Angola's Opposition Party Challenges Election Results
Angola's main opposition party on Tuesday said it had submitted legal complaints challenging the electoral commission's finding that the governing party won last week's election but the body said it had not received any complaints related to it.
In a statement on Tuesday, the opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), said the complaints would have the effect of suspending the declaration of results of the vote.
Commission spokesperson Lucas Quilundo told reporters none of the complaints it had received so far were related to the final election results, but later said he had rejected two complaints filed by UNITA related to the electoral process and the results.
After the most closely fought election since independence from Portugal in 1975, the commission declared the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) the winner, prolonging its nearly five decades of uninterrupted rule and handing President Joao Lourenco a second term.
Just over 51% of voters had supported the ex-Marxist MPLA, it said. UNITA, its longtime opponent and former civil war enemy, took about 44%, its best result ever, according to the commission.
BY REUTERS
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