Africa-Press – Angola. Thirty-two years later, the General Elections, which took place on 29 and 30 September 1992, in a multi-party and democratic environment, prevail as a milestone for the country in terms of adherence to democracy.
Today marks 32 years since the first time Angola went to the polls, following the Agreements signed on 31 May 1991, in the Portuguese town of Bicesse.
Signed by the then President of the Republic José Eduardo dos Santos, and the leader of the armed rebellion Jonas Savimbi, the Bicesse Agreements were mediated by the Portuguese Government, led at the time by Professor Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister of Portugal, between November 1985 and October 28, 1995.
In addition to the formation of a single Army, the agreement also included a ceasefire, national reconciliation and transition to multi-party democracy, which would take effect at the end of 1992, that is, on 29 and 30 September, with the holding of the General Elections.
These were the first in Angola’s history, since National Independence, marked by a voter turnout of around 91.3% for the parliamentary elections and 91.2% for the presidential elections, which were inconclusive with the second round between the two most voted candidates, namely José Eduardo dos Santos and Jonas Malheiro Savimbi.
Hard fought lawsuit
There were 4,401,539 voters registered for the legislative and presidential elections, duly registered by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and 3,941,083 citizens voted.
Nine political parties, a coalition and an independent candidate participated in the event, in which the two most significant parties, the MPLA and UNITA, stood out, as well as their respective presidential candidates, José Eduardo dos Santos, who obtained 49 percent of the votes, and Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, 40 percent.
The ruling MPLA party won both elections, but eight opposition parties, in particular Jonas Malheiro Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), rejected the results, claiming fraud.
The United Nations, through Margareth Anstee, former UN special envoy to Angola, had the historic responsibility of declaring the first elections held in the country as free and fair, highlighting that the process followed universally accepted standards, contradicting allegations of irregularities.
Days after the election, UNITA sent negotiators to the capital, seeking to prevent the publication of the results. The level of post-election tension increased with deep mutual disagreements between the two main contenders, the MPLA and UNITA, which led to the beginning of confrontations in Luanda.
The end of October and beginning of November were marked by military clashes, initially in Luanda, which quickly spread to several Angolan cities and made it impossible to resume the electoral process, conflicts that marked the resumption of the civil war.
Of the politicians who participated in the first election, Simão Cacete, who led a coalition of parties, and Luís dos Passos, president of the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), both political institutions are now extinct. As for the political parties that are active today, there are the MPLA, the party in power, UNITA, as the largest opposition party, FNLA and the PRS.
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