Angola heads to the polls on 24 August

These are historic elections for Angola. The country was ravaged by 27 years of brutal civil war, which began immediately after independence from Portugal in 1975. Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled the country from 1979 to 2017, effectively creating a personal fiefdom. After 38 years in power, what has dos Santos left and what can Angolans reasonably expect?

At Good Governance Africa, we've produced some resources to provide intelligence on the upcoming elections and why they matter for Angola.

First, here's a sense of the legacy effects of dos Santos, who died in Spain earlier this year. Second, read an in-depth assessment of the MPLA's performance in Angola in an archived edition of Africa in Fact. Third, engage with our election tracker compiled by Dr Craig Moffat and Monique Bennett. Fourth, for a sense of each contender's prospects, watch our GGA Video Conversation featuring myself and Busisipho Siyobi. Finally, explore the pre-election dynamics in their geopolitical context.

Over half of Angola's citizens still live on under $2/day, despite a post-war oil bonanza. It requires serious governance reform and a viable economic diversification plan. But it has a long way to go. As Paula Cristina Roque has shown in her timely book, reviewed by Angola expert Alex Vines in our GGA academic journal, The Africa Governance Papers, the Angolan state is still highly securitised, and elections are therefore unfortunately far from free, fair and credible yet. This is where the pressure for reform needs to be applied, as it is a precursor to sustainable economic development.

If you or your institution is interested in a copy of my book on Angola and Nigeria, please contact me at [email protected] and we can try to organise a serious discount.