On August 24, 2022, Angola will hold its general elections to choose its new president and national assembly lawmakers.
In what is anticipated to be the closest election since the nation’s first multi-party vote in 1992, Angolans go to the polls.
Below is a brief profile of the presidential candidates:
Joao Lourenco: is an Angolan politician who has served as the president of Angola since 26 September 2017.Previously, he was Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018, he became the Chairman of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the ruling party. He was the party’s Secretary-General from 1998 to 2003.
João Lourenço was designated in December 2016 to occupy the party’s number one position in the August 2017 legislative election.
Adalberto Costa Junior: Born May 8, 1962 is an Angolan politician, current president of UNITA and a member of the National Assembly of Angola. He trained in electrotechnical engineering at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto and in public ethics at the Gregorian University in Rome.
He has campaigned against public corruption. He was the godson of Jonas Savimbi. In November 2019, Júnior was elected as president of the UNITA, ending Isaias Samakuva’s 16-year term.
Benedito Daniel: A teacher by training, Benedito is a parliamentarian on the ticket of the PRS Social Renewal Party. He was elected to lead the party in May this year to replace Eduardo Kuangana.
Benedito holds a Bachelor of Science in Education according to the Angolan parliament website. He has served the PRS in various capacities.
Among other roles: Secretary of PRS policy committee in its early years (1990 – 1991), its secretary of political affairs between 2006 – 2012. He was elected its Secretary-General in 2012, a position he holds till date.
The party was formed in 1991, a year to Angola’s first multi-party elections since dos Santos took charge. It won six seats in the 1992 elections it has increased its seat since then to eight as at 2017.
Manuel Fernandes: Manuel Fernandes, 50, was born on February 8, 1982, in Uige province. Due to the political context in Uige, in the 80’s, he left his homeland to Luanda, settling in Cazenga, where he continued his studies from grade 5 to 7 at the 1 de Junho, Óscar Ribas and Angola e Cuba Schools.
In 1989, he enrolled in the Ngola Kiluange school, where he finished grade 8, and was transferred to the Karl Marx school and then to IMEL, in 1995 where he completed the high course in Accounting and Management.
Ngola Kabangu: Ngola Kabangu born February 14, 1943 in Bairro Operário, Luanda Province. He is the President of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), a political party in Angola. He succeeded Holden Roberto, who led the party from its formation until his death in August 2007.
Party members elected Kabangu as President of the FNLA with 791 points, triumphing over rivals Carlinhos Zassala, who received 65, and Miguel Damiao, who received 13 points. Neither Zassala nor Damiao attended the electoral commission’s announcement ceremony on November 11, 2007 to protest alleged voting irregularities.
Kabangu was the first candidate on the FNLA’s national list in the September 2008 parliamentary election and was one of three FNLA candidates to win seats in the National Assembly.
Quintino Moreira: Quintino Moreira is the leader of National Patriotic Alliance (APN) in the general elections scheduled for August 24.
Quintino Moreira was born in the municipality of Dembos, northern Bengo province, on August 15, 1968. He is the son of a war veteran and is married to Nádia Patrícia da Silva Cunha. He has a degree in Law, in the Juridical-Political option, from Jean Piaget University. Postgraduate in Management and Conflict Resolution from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Agostinho Neto University (UAN).
Eduardo Chingunji: Born on September 7, 1964. Served as a political leader in UNITA, a pro-Western rebel group in Angola. During Angola’s civil war (1975–2002), all of Chingunji’s brothers died in mysterious circumstances, except for him. Rumuors attributed their deaths to assassination plots ordered by UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.
Angolan troops killed Savimbi in 2002, bringing the civil war to an end. UNITA held its ninth Congress in Viana, Angola from June 24 to 27, 2003. Chingunji, Isaías Samakuva, and Paulo Lukamba contested UNITA’s presidency at the Congress. Chingunji overwhelmingly lost to Samakuva, receiving only 20 votes to Samakuva’s 1,067 votes and Gato’s 277.
Florbela Malaquias: Florbela Catarina Malaquias, was born in Moxico province, on January 26, 1959. She is the mother of four children. She has a degree in law from Agostinho Neto University and is studying master’s degree in law and business.
For several years she developed a career as a journalist, first at Radio Vorgan and then at RNA, where she also held the position of executive director. Her political activity started at UNITA, where she also joined the military cadres reaching the rank of Captain. This year, she founded the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) and would be their flagbearer at the elections.