Politics

Angola: President Lourenco sworn in for second term after contentious poll

Published

2 years ago

September 15, 2022

President Joao Lourenco of Angola has been sworn in for a second term in office after a disputed election last month in which the opposition parties said was fraught with rigging and irregularities.

Lourenco took his second oath of office for another five years amid tight security in the capital Luanda on Thursday after for fear of the major opposition force, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), going forward with the threat of disrupting the ceremony.

Lourenco who is the leader of the ruling party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) which has been in power in the past four decades, took the oath of office in the presence of at least African heads of state and dozens of other diplomats from around the world.

The President was declared winner of the August 24 general elections on August 29, with the National Electoral Commission (CNE) saying he had won 51.17 percent of the votes cast, while UNITA, the largest opposition party in the country, gained 43.95 percent of the total votes cast, the largest it has ever won.

In the aftermath of the election, UNITA, a former rebel group who fought the MPLA for nearly three decades, said it rejected the result and went to the Supreme Court to challenge the result.

UNITA repeatedly said that it did not recognise the results of the vote, and that various complaints have been filed with the electoral commission. The party has cited discrepancies between the commission’s count and the party’s own tally.

UNITA leader and presidential candidate, Adalberto Costa Junior, in an address to the nation on the disputed poll, had said:

“The MPLA did not win the election… we have been in peace for 20 years, and we now need to embrace a true democratic rule of law.”

Lourenco himself had acknowledged the polls had been “the most disputed elections of the history of the young Angola democracy,” but said they had nonetheless “contributed to the strengthening of our democracy”.

Related Topics:Angola Elections Featured MPLA President Lourenco Joao UNITA

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Politics

Mali’s junta names spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga new Prime Minister

Published

5 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A day after dismissing Choguel Maiga for criticising the government, Mali’s governing junta named its spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, as Prime Minister on Thursday, according to state broadcaster, ORTM.

A source close to Choguel Maiga told Reuters that the ruling generals were incensed by Maiga’s remarks over the weekend denouncing the junta’s inability to hold elections within the 24-month timeframe given for the return to democracy.

After promising to hold elections in February, the military authorities, who took control in two separate coups in 2020 and 2021, have put off the poll indefinitely, citing technological difficulties.

Choguel Maiga’s firing coincides with indications of growing discontent and disarray among Mali politicians, even those who first supported the coup and collaborated with the junta.

As the wait for elections continues, Choguel Maiga, a civilian prime minister who was installed by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent to lose support.

He was cited on Saturday as claiming he learnt of the junta’s decision via the media and that there had been no discussion regarding the delay of the elections inside the cabinet.

“It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Choguel Maiga told reporters.

Before then, he had frequently stood up for Mali’s junta against criticism from foreign friends and neighbours in West Africa who denounced its repeated election delays and military collaboration with Russian mercenaries.

As government spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, the new prime minister, has also made strong public remarks against France, the previous colonial master. One such speech was demanding French President Emmanuel Macron to stop his “neocolonial” and “condescending” behaviour.

Abdoulaye Maiga and Assimi Goita, the leaders of the junta, announced they had kept all of the important cabinet ministers in their portfolios in the new administration in a statement that was broadcast on state television ORTM.

The announcement said that Abdoulaye Maiga will remain minister of territory administration.

Politics

Congo opposition mobilizes protests against constitution review

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to President Felix Tshisekedi’s intentions to amend the constitution, opposition lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have called for national protests on Wednesday.

Tshisekedi, who was sworn in for his second and last term in January, said that a panel would be formed in October to recommend possible constitutional amendments.

According to critics, it may be a ploy to lift term restrictions and give him another chance to run.

Tshisekedi said the current constitution, ratified by a referendum in 2005, needed to change because it did not align with the country’s current realities.

Opposition politicians, including former president Joseph Kabila and past presidential candidates Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, issued a unified statement on Wednesday urging rallies to “block” Tshisekedi.

A request for a response from the Congo’s presidency was not answered.

Patrick Muyaya, the minister of communications, stated on Monday that discussions surrounding the constitutional revision should be de-politicized and that no one should doubt the president’s intentions.

“We’re at the beginning of our mandate… The President of the Republic still has four years to go, and we must avoid attributing intentions to him,” Muyaya told reporters.