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Nov 23, 2008 at 09:24 AM
 
 
Angola’s Governing Party Wins in Landslide PDF Print E-mail

Johannesburg, Sep.9.— The governing party in oil-rich Angola won a landslide victory in the country’s first elections in 16 years, official results show, prompting a remarkable concession of defeat by the leading opposition party, which just six years ago was the government’s enemy in a brutal 27-year-long civil war.

The decisive win for the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, known as the M.P.L.A., in last week’s legislative elections will give it the two-thirds majority in Parliament needed to change the Constitution and further entrench its dominance of Angolan politics, senior officials in both parties said Tuesday.

It will also confer a measure of legitimacy on a government that has been in power since Angola gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. While American and European election observers concluded the political playing field was hardly level given the M.P.L.A.’s control of state media, they also said the election itself was evidence of democratic progress ...

The European Union’s election observer mission found that Angola’s elections fell short of international standards because the state-controlled radio, television and daily newspaper were biased in favor of the government and because of flaws in some election procedures ...

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