Joao Lourenco was sworn in for a second term as president of Angola amid tight security, three weeks after he won a disputed election that was challenged by the nation’s main opposition parties.
(Bloomberg) — Joao Lourenco was sworn in for a second term as president of Angola amid tight security, three weeks after he won a disputed election that was challenged by the nation’s main opposition parties.
Lourenco, 68, was sworn in alongside Esperanca da Costa, the nation’s first female vice president, at Praca de Republica square in the capital, Luanda. The ceremony took place beneath a 120-meter high rocket-shaped monument that marks the final resting place of the nation’s first president, Antonio Agostinho Neto.
Hundreds of military officials surrounded the venue of the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by heads of state from several African countries and Portugal.
The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, garnered 51% of the votes and 124 seats in the 220-member parliament in the Aug. 24 election. The main opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, known as Unita, came second with 44%, equating to 90 seats. That was Unita’s best result since the country changed to multiparty elections from a one-party Marxist state in 1992.
Unita on Wednesday reiterated that it doesn’t accept the outcome of the vote and its representatives didn’t attend the swearing-in ceremony. Angola’s constitutional court rejected all of Unita’s legal challenges to the vote.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
