President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday congratulated President João Lourenço on his re-election following last week’s Angola general elections.
Ramaphosa said the election results reflect the trust and confidence the Angolan people has in Lourenço.
“I am looking forward to working with President João Lourenço to strengthen the strong and cordial bilateral relations between our two countries as well as in matters of mutual interest in the African continent and our region, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).” Ramaphosa said.
The South African leader said it was encouraging that the elections were conducted in a calm environment where Angolans “exercised their democratic right of electing a government of their own choosing.”
According to provisional results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) of Angola, Lourenço’s People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won a total of 51.07 percent of the votes cast.
This was against the 44.5 percent votes for the main opposition party, the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) led by Adalberto Costa Júnior.
The CNE said out of the 220 contested seats in the National Assembly, results show that the MPLA has won 124 seats while UNITA got 90 seats.
Results for the six remaining seats are still pending and have no bearing on the final results as the MPLA has already won the majority votes to lead the next government.
The candidate of the party winning the most votes in the parliamentary election becomes the President.
JN/APA