President Lourenco, 68, returned to energy after the August 24 vote gave the ruling occasion a skinny majority in its worst efficiency since independence in 1975.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco is to be sworn in for a second five-year time period on Thursday amid tight safety after a disputed electoral win final month.
The inauguration can be held on the historic palm tree-lined Praca da Republica sq. within the centre of the capital, Luanda.
Safety forces arrange a heavy cordon across the venue forward of the ceremony, AFP correspondents noticed, which the primary opposition occasion mentioned was aimed toward stifling dissent.
About 20 navy tanks have been stationed at a big site visitors circle, a few kilometre from the sq.. Massive numbers of police and navy forces had began patrolling the streets on the eve of the ceremony.
“This set-up goals to intimidate residents who need to show towards the election outcomes on the day of the inauguration of a president with out legitimacy,” the Nationwide Union for the Whole Independence of Angola (UNITA) mentioned in an announcement.
The visitor record for the ceremony is strictly by invitation and restricted to some 15,000 chosen Angolans and 50 international heads of state and authorities, state minister Adao de Almeida instructed reporters.
Lourenco, 68, returned to energy after the August 24 vote gave his Folks’s Motion for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) a skinny majority, profitable simply 51.17 % of the votes.
The vote was to decide on members of parliament, the place the chief of the most important occasion routinely ascends to the presidency.
It was the MPLA’s poorest exhibiting within the oil-rich African nation it has managed since independence from Portugal in 1975.
UNITA , a former insurgent motion which fought a bitter 27-year civil warfare towards the MPLA authorities, made important features, incomes 43.95 % of the vote, up from 26.67 % in 2017.
Opposition events and civic teams say the vote was marred by irregularities.
UNITA disputed the leads to court docket however its enchantment was tossed out.
“Tomorrow I’ll keep at residence. There are too many police forces round city,” Joao, a highschool pupil who solely gave his first title, mentioned on Wednesday at a bus cease on the outskirts of Luanda.
Underneath its charismatic chief Costa Junior, 60, UNITA has proved common in city areas and amongst younger voters longing for financial change.
It did significantly nicely within the capital, the place it gained a majority for the primary time. The MPLA as an alternative misplaced its two-thirds parliamentary majority with its seats dropping to 124 from 150.
Lourenco struck a conciliatory tone after the vote, pledging to advertise “dialogue” and be the “president of all Angolans”.
However Costa Junior has mentioned he’ll skip the inauguration and promised protests towards the results of the vote, however has mentioned his occasion will be part of the brand new parliament.
‘Not a lot distinction’
Overseas observers from different elements of Africa praised the peaceable conduct of the polls however raised considerations over press freedom and the accuracy of the electoral roll.
The previous common first got here to energy in 2017 when he took over from longtime ruler Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who bequeathed a rustic deep in recession and riddled by corruption and nepotism.
Lourenco swiftly turned on his predecessor, launching an anti-corruption marketing campaign focusing on his household and associates, which critics say was a political stunt.
He additionally launched into an bold reform programme to lure international traders and diversify the financial system.
However that has thus far did not brighten the prospects of a lot of Angola’s 33 million people who find themselves mired in poverty.
In July, dos Santos died in Spain. State funerals for the late strongman have been held in August in the identical sq. the place Lourenco is to be sworn in.
Analysts see little change between the president and his predecessor.
“There may be not a lot distinction between two … by way of respect for human rights and elementary freedoms,” mentioned Borges Nhamirre, a researcher on the Pretoria-based think-tank Institute for Safety Research.