Angola’s election commission says the ruling MPLA party has won the national election with 61 percent of the vote, meaning Defence Minister Joao Lourenco will replace President Jose Eduardo dos Santos after his 38-year rule.
Commission spokesperson Julia Ferreira says 98 percent of votes have been counted from Wednesday’s election.
Ferreira says the MPLA has four million votes, while the main opposition UNITA party has 1.8 million votes, or nearly 27 percent.
The Portuguese news agency Lusa says the MPLA will get 150 seats in the 220-seat National Assembly. That is 25 fewer seats than in the previous legislature that was formed after the ruling party beat UNITA by a wider margin in the 2012 election. – AP
