General elections were held in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
on 31 August 2012 to elect the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
and
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
.
During campaigning, the opposition UNITA and its offshoot CASA-CE accused and criticised the government of corruption and called for greater transparency; this also led to protests and arrests the day before the election. These were the first elections after the new
2010 constitution
The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme lawof the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constitu ...
was instituted.
Background
While UNITA accepted the result of the
National Assembly elections in 1992, it rejected that of the
presidential elections
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pr ...
, alleging fraud. The party then resumed the
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, though its MPs still took their seats in the National Assembly. As a result, the second round of the presidential elections were not held, nor were the legislative elections due at regular intervals in accordance with the 1992
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
. The civil war came to an end in 2002, following the death of UNITA's leader
Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...
in an ambush. The MPLA still refused to hold the second round of the presidential election, but organised
legislative elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in 2008. The MPLA's resultant majority allowed it to adopt a new constitution in 2010, abolishing the direct election of the president. The constitution stipulated that legislative elections would be held at intervals of five years and that the leader of the party that received the most votes would become president. The expectation of all parties was that this would lead to the endurance of the
dominant party system
A dominant-party system, or one-party dominant system, is a political occurrence in which a single political party continuously dominates election results over running opposition groups or parties. Any ruling party staying in power for more th ...
.
Electoral system
At the time of the election, the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
had 220 seats, of which 130 were elected from
closed list
Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...
s by
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
and the remaining 90 elected in 18 five-seat constituencies.
Process required that following the election, the leader of the largest party would become
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
.
[ Voters had to be at least 18 years old and not have an undischarged bankruptcy or criminal conviction. Candidates had to be at least 35 years old.][
The president is elected by ]first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
double simultaneous vote
Double simultaneous vote (DSV) is an electoral system in which multiple offices – such as the president and members of a legislature – are elected through a single vote cast for a party. It can be combined with other electoral systems; in Uru ...
for the same term as the assembly, and may serve a maximum of two terms. Each participating party nominates a presidential candidate as top of its list, who must be clearly identified on the ballot paper. The top candidate of the party receiving the most votes is elected president in accordance with the 2010 constitution
The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme lawof the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constitu ...
.
Over 10,000 voting centres were opened from 7:00-18:00, while the day was declared a national holiday.
Campaign
A total of nine parties and coalitions contested the elections, four of which are parties (the MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...
, UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
, the National Liberation Front of Angola
The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independenc ...
(FNLA) and the Social Renewal Party); and five of which are coalitions (the United Front for Change of Angola (FUMA), the New Democracy Electoral Union
New Democracy Electoral Union ( pt, Nova Democracia União Eleitoral) is a political coalition in Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Lua ...
, the People's Party for Development (PAPOD), CASA–CE
The Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola – Electoral Coalition ( pt, Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola – Coligação Eleitoral, CASA–CE) is a political alliance in Angola that currently includes five parties.
History
The ...
and the Political Opposition Council (CPO)). CASA-CE is a breakaway from UNITA that was formed after its leader Abel Chivukuvuku
Abel Epalanga Chivukuvuku (born November 11, 1957) is an Angolan politician and leader of the Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola electoral alliance (CASA-CE). Previously, as a long-time member of the National Union for the Total Indep ...
lost the UNITA leadership election to Samakuva, and it sought to mobilise voters from inside and outside UNITA against the MPLA.
On 13 June 2012, the MPLA Central Committee designated incumbent President José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the ...
as head of the MPLA party list and Manuel Vicente
Manuel Domingos Vicente (born 15 May 1956) is an Angolan politician who served as the vice president of Angola between September 2012 and September 2017. Previously he was chief executive officer of Sonangol, Angola's state oil company, from 19 ...
, the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, as the second candidate on the list. Under the constitution, this would result in dos Santos receiving another term as president, with Vicente becoming vice-president.
UNITA criticised the government for corruption and, amongst other reasons, giving the contract to run the election to the Spanish company Indra-Sistemas SA, which also ran the 2008 election and was accused of helping the MPLA win that election. The media were also reported to have been biased in their coverage in favour of the incumbent MPLA. However, UNITA was also expected to gain a larger share of the vote and cut the MPLA's popular vote from the previous election. Other issues centred on greater transparency and a more democratic government.
Conduct
National police commander General Ambrósio de Lemos said he was ready to ensure that electoral laws were enforced: "We will not tolerate nor allow these elections to be derailed. Citizens must be able to access the polling stations, in accordance with their civil rights, without any problems."
The day before the election, as members of CASA-CE sought to enter the office of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) in order observation rights, police arrested about a dozen party members. Party candidate William Tonet told ''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
'' that police outside the building that they had fired shots to keep away young party members. However, this was unconfirmed by an unnamed police officer at the Quarta Esquadra police station nearby, though the arrests were affirmed. Tonet added that no injuries occurred. He mentioned that of the 6,850 requestioned accreditions, only 3,000 had been given. However, the CNE had said it approved 97,000 local observers from the nine parties and coalitions that were contesting the election. Luis Ngimbi, the head of a local team of observers, said of the campaign that "while no major incidents were reported, the campaign has been disappointing because of the lack of details of promises."[
Samakuva also expressed concern prior to the election about possible irregularities, mainly in regards to the voter roll. He said: "Many Angolans' names don't appear on the voter roll, and in many places the voter roll has not been released. We have come to the conclusion that the National Electoral Commission is not ready. The conditions don't exist to ensure the minimum of an organised, transparent process." He also sought to meet Dos Santos to express the concerns and ask for monitoring accreditation for 2,000 of its party workers.]
After Dos Santos, who voted at a school near his official residence, said: "I am satisfied because the process is going smoothly throughout the country. I urge all Angolans to vote, to vote for democracy, which is important," he said. "Today people have power in their hands, and it's a great responsibility." This was the first direct vote on his presidency.
The African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
claimed that the elections had been "free, fair, transparent and credible", but noted that opposition parties had not been given equal access to the media. UNITA announced that they would appeal the results of the election, claiming that the results announced by the National Election Commission did not match their counts at polling stations. CASA-CE took the same position.
Results
As expected, results vary greatly from one region to another. In Luanda Province
Luanda is a province of Angola. It covers an area of 18,835 km2, and had a population of 6,945,386 at the Census of 16 May 2014. The latest official estimate (for 2019) is 8,247,688.Instituto Nacional de Estatístiica, República de Angola.
The ...
and Cabinda Province
Cabinda (formerly called Portuguese Congo, kg, Kabinda) is an exclave and province of Angola in Africa, a status that has been disputed by several political organizations in the territory. The capital city is also called Cabinda, known locall ...
, UNITA and CASA–CE together received about 40% of the vote, compared to 25% nationally. Another feature is the high abstention rate, of 37.2%, compared to 12.5% in the 1992 elections.
Aftermath
Dos Santos was sworn in for a five-year term as President, with Vicente as Vice-President, on 26 September 2012. A day later, on 27 September 2012, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos (born 5 March 1950), known as Nandó, is an Angolan politician who was the first vice president of Angola from February 2010 to September 2012. He was the prime minister of Angola from 2002 to 2008 and preside ...
was elected as President of the National Assembly."Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos elected Speaker of National Assembly"
Angola Press Agency, 27 September 2012.
References
{{Angolan elections
Elections in Angola
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
2012 in Angola
August 2012 events in Africa