LUANDA — Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' ruling MPLA party appeared headed for a comfortable win in the country's national elections, with 74.46 percent of the vote with results in from nearly 60 percent of polling stations, according to provisional results from the national elections commission Saturday. The provisional turnout was just over 57 percent, the commission said. Angolan state television Saturday broadcast images of the vote from across the country, praising the smooth conduct of the ballot — only the second since the end of a 27-year civil war. Luanda's provincial police chief, Elisabeth Ranque Franque, told the official news agency Angop that no major incidents had been reported Friday. Final results, and even the turnout figure, are only expected next week in the elections for 220 members of parliament. The ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola is in power since independence from Portugal 37 years ago. The predicted victory would hand another five years in office to President Dos Santos, whose 33 years in power have made him the second-longest serving leader in Africa. At the helm of the continent's second-largest oil producer, Dos Santos's family has built up a business empire but also poured billions of dollars into rebuilding the country with new roads, schools, bridges and dams. His party took 81 percent of the vote in 2008 elections, crushing the main opposition Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita). With only 10 percent of votes in the last poll, Unita needs a strong showing to prove it remains relevant, particularly after a bruising split that saw a top party official form the new Casa party with a high-profile defector from the MPLA. Unita leader Isaias Samakuva has raised concerns about the accrediting of electoral observers and the authenticity of the 9.7 million names on the voter roll. Samakuva campaigned on promises to build a better democracy, but it is unclear if that message had more resonance than Casa's campaign promises of better jobs and homes. Former Cape Verde president Pedro Verona Pires, chief of the African Union's observer team, described the poll's organization as “satisfactory" and said that initial reports showed the voting had proceeded well. — Agencies
