Sousa Jamba
Angola’s ruling party, the MPLA, has claimed victory in elections this week.
This gives President Joao Lourenco a second five-year term and extends his party’s continuous rule of nearly five decades.
However, celebrations in the capital Luanda will be muted, as they won by a margin of less than eight points – 51.7 to 44.5. This is a dramatic fall from five years ago, when the gap was more than 35 points (61 to 26).
Moreover the opposition Unita party surprised everybody by winning Luanda by a landslide of 30%. Luanda was once an MPLA stronghold.
The loss of Luanda to Unita undermines the common narrative that the opposition is mainly rooted in the central highlands of the country among the Ovimbundu ethnic group.
The architect behind Unita’s victory, Nelito da Costa Ekuikui, was one year old when, in 1992, Angola held its first ever election. The 31-year-old member of the Ovimbundu royal family was once the youngest member of the Angolan parliament.
Unita’s performance can be attributed to a profound psychographic change that has taken place in Angola over the last few years. Many young people are more likely to warm to a politician based on shared political values rather than on the basis of ethnic or regional affinity.
Ekuikui is young and has managed to appeal to the political issues young people prioritise namely, good education, jobs and healthcare.
While the MPLA relied on veteran campaigners who put on loud shows and paraded popular musicians, Ekuikui went from door to door in the poorest neighbourhoods of Luanda, telling the young to register to vote and have their say in the election.
Critically, Ekuikui also ran his campaign on social media. The young leader has a huge following on Facebook, and holds daily sessions with his followers to discuss problems in the capital.
