1986 Angolan legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Angola on 9 December 1986. They had been scheduled for 1983, but were postponed due to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola's (UNITA) military gains in the civil war.[1] The elections were the second elections conducted in the nation after in got independence from Portugal in 1975 and after the 1980 elections. During the period of 1975 to 1980, a civil war was fought between three parties, namely, People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the disturbance continued to the 90s.

The Unicameral Parliament of Angola was scheduled to be constituted with the 289 elected members for a period of three years after the elections. All Angolan citizens with 18 years of age were eligible to cast their vote. The representatives of the provincial assemblies formed a college and they elected the representatives of the House of Parliament.

Elections were planned to be held in 1983, but was postponed to three years for political disturbances and finally was held on 9 November 1986 for electoral colleges for choosing the electorates of the legislature. At the time, the country was a one-party state, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Party of Labour (MPLA-PT) as the sole legal party. As a result, most candidates were members of the party, and two-thirds were re-nominated from 1980 elections. The elected assemblies took the oath on 30 January 1987 and José Eduardo dos Santos took the oath as the second elected President of Angola. MPLA won 173 out of the 289 seats, while there were 117 independent winners and one seat remained vacant.

Background

Angola was a colony of Portugal for more than 400 years from the 15th century. The demand for independence in Angola picked up momentum during the early 1950s. The Portuguese régime, refused to accede to the demands for independence, provoking an armed conflict that started in 1961 when freedom fighters attacked both white and black civilians in cross-border operations in northeastern Angola, which was called the Colonial War. The principal protagonists included the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), founded in 1956, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), which appeared in 1961, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict that weakened all of the insurgent parties, Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975, after the 1974 coup d'état in Lisbon, Portugal, which overthrew the Portuguese régime headed by Marcelo Caetano.[2]

A fight for dominance broke out immediately between the three nationalist movements. The events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens, creating up to 300 000 destitute Portuguese refugees—the retornados.[2] The new Portuguese government tried to mediate an understanding between the three competing movements, which was initially agreed by the movements, but later failed and resulted in a devastating civil war which lasted several decades. It claimed millions of lives and produced many refugees; it didn't end until 2002.[3]

Following negotiations held in Portugal, itself experiencing severe social and political turmoil and uncertainty due to the April 1974 revolution, Angola's three main guerrilla groups agreed to establish a transitional government in January 1975. Within two months, however, the FNLA, MPLA and UNITA had started fighting each other and the country began splitting into zones controlled by rival armed political groups. The MPLA gained control of the capital Luanda and much of the rest of the country. With the support of the United States, Zaïre and South Africa intervened militarily in favour of the FNLA and UNITA with the intention of taking Luanda before the declaration of independence.[4] In response, Cuba intervened in favor of the MPLA, which became a flash point for the Cold War. With Cuban support, the MPLA held Luanda and declared independence on 11 November 1975, with Agostinho Neto becoming the first president, though the civil war continued.[5] Jose Eduardo dos Santos won the 1980 elections and became the first elected President of the country. The civil war continued with UNITA fighting against the MLPA, with both parties taking international support.[6]

Criteria

José Eduardo dos Santos who won and became the President of Angola in the elections

The Unicameral Parliament of Angola was scheduled to be constituted with the 289 elected members (229 in 1980 elections[7] for a period of three years after the elections. All Angolan citizens with 18 years of age were eligible to cast their vote. Citizens who were members of factional groups, had criminal record and who had not rehabilitated were barred from exercising their voting rights. The representatives of the provincial assemblies formed a college and they elected the representatives of the House of Parliament. The candidates were expected to be answerable to the citizens in public meetings, with their candidature approved by a majority in the province where they were getting nominated. A constitutional amendment on 19 August 1980 indicated that the Council would be replaced by a national people's assembly and there would be 18 elected assemblies.[1]

Elections

Elections were scheduled to be held in 1983 after the completion of the previous four year term, but were postponed on account of the Civil war and other political disturbances. Elections were held on 9 December 1986 for all 18 assemblies simultaneously for choosing the electorates of the legislature. At the time, the country was a one-party state, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Party of Labour (MPLA-PT) being the sole legal party. As a result, most candidates were members of the party, and those that were not were vetted to ensure that they were not elected to the colleges. The party invited more number of candidates from various sections of the society and nominated lot of women. The party re-nominated close to two-thirds of sitting members from the 1980 elections. The President and elected assemblies opened the first session on 30 January 1987 and José Eduardo dos Santos took the oath as the elected President of Angola for a second term.[1]

Political group	Number of seats	Number of men	Number of women
Totals	289	247	42
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola—Party of Labour (MPLA-PT)	173[8]
Non-party members	116[8]

The 289 representatives constituted civil servants, workers, students, peasants, members of defense or security forces, intellectuals and clerical staff.[1] For most of 1975–1990, the MPLA organised and maintained a socialist régime.[9] In 1990, when the Cold War ended, MPLA abandoned its ties to the Marxist–Leninist ideology and declared social democracy to be its official ideology,[10] going on to win the 1992 general election. However, eight opposition parties rejected the elections as rigged.[11]

References

1. Angola elections 1986 (PDF) (Report). Inter-Parliamentary Union. 1986. pp. 31–32. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
2. "Dismantling the Portuguese Empire". Time. 7 July 1975.
3. Stuart A. Notholt (1998). "The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa: Metropolitan Revolution and the Dissolution of Empire by Norrie MacQueen – Mozambique since Independence: Confronting Leviathan by Margaret Hall & Tom Young". African Affairs. 97 (387): 276–278. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007936. JSTOR 723274.
4. "Americas Third World War: How 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars against third world countries". Imperial Beach, California: Information Clearing House]. 16 November 1981. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
5. "The Economist: Flight from Angola". 16 August 1975.
6. "Angola profile - Timeline". BBC. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
7. Angola elections 1980 (PDF) (Report). Inter-Parliamentary Union. 1981. pp. 35–36. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
8. Supplementary information on the general elections of 9 December 1986 (PDF) (Report). Inter-Parliamentary Union. 9 December 1986. p. 133. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
9. Bhagavan, M.R. (1986). Angola's Political Economy 1975–1985. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. ISBN 9171062483.
10. Santos, Hélia (2008), "MPLA (Angola)", A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures – Continental Europe and its Empires, Edinburgh University Press, p. 480, ISBN 9780748623945
11. National Society for Human Rights, Ending the Angolan Conflict, Windhoek, Namibia, 3 July 2000 (opposition parties, massacres); John Matthew, Letters, The Times, UK, 6 November 1992 (election observer); NSHR, Press Releases, 12 September 2000, 16 May 2001 (MPLA atrocities).

External links