Page last updated: 11th September, 2008
On Friday 5th September Angolans will cast their votes in parliamentary elections for the first time in 16 years. In the week running up to polling day we will be looking at the issues facing voters.
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Historic polls
President Dos Santos has not faced the public vote since 1992
Angola's last elections in 1992 were won by President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of the ruling MPLA when he narrowly defeated UNITA's Jonas Savimbi.
The election was meant to end three decades of war but instead led to yet more conflict.
Friday's election is seen as an important step forward for democracy and development in the country and more than eight million people have registered to vote.
For many this will be their first chance to express themselves at the ballot box and there's an air of excitment in Angola, Louise Redvers reports.
Preparing for a hi-tech election
Louise Redvers explores how technology will be used on polling day to help the National Electoral Commission ensure a smooth and trouble-free election.
High unemployment
Angola is Africa's biggest oil producer, yet just 30 per cent of the population is in employment, which makes job creation one of the major challenges all political parties would need to address. Louise Redvers finds out why so few people are in work.
Oil wealth
Angola is rich in one of the most sought after commodities in the world, oil, and has benefitted financially from rising prices. Louise Redvers finds out how the money generated is being used.
Electoral observers
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), is one of the observer missions currently in Angola to witness the elections and ensure that fraud does not take place. The head of the SADC mission, Dr John Kunene, spoke to Louise Redvers about how prepared the country is for these elections.
Awaiting the results
Early indications are that the ruling party, MPLA, will win a landslide victory at the polls. However, the main opposition UNITA are unhappy with the elections and have said that they will contest the results. Louise Redvers reports from Luanda on the reactions to the preliminary results.
Opposition defeat
The main opposition party, UNITA, has conceded defeat in last Friday's parliamentary elections. With about 80% of the votes counted, the ruling part, MPLA, is heading for a landslide victory with UNITA trailing having secured just 10.5% of the votes. UNITA had cited irregularities with the voting but at a press conference their spokesperson, Adalberto Costa Junior, admitted defeat.
A coming of age
After securing a landslide victory the ruling party, the MPLA, say it's time to get back to work. The party has governed Angola since independence in 1975. But the recent poll was the country's first election for sixteen years - the last vote having ended in a dispute that saw the country return to civil war. MPLA spokesman, Norberto dos Santos, tells Louise Redvers why, in the light of what has happened in elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe, Angola should be proud of its elections.
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