Luanda - The president of the ruling MPLA João Lourenço said Saturday in Luanda that the best way to honour the memory of the party's late President Emeritus José Eduardo dos Santos is to win the August 24 general elections.
The MPLA leader, who was addressing a mass rally in Luanda ahead of August 24 elections, said that winning the polls will be the best way to honor the memory of the former President of the Republic.
João Lourenço also considered José Eduardo dos Santos as “a great son of Angola who dedicated all his youth to the good of the nation, and knew how to lead Angola wisely and, above all, ended the war that threatened to destroy the country”.
“To him (José Eduardo dos Santos) we owe the peace and national reconciliation that we have lived for about 20 years, a precious achievement for the development of the country”, Lourenço said.
João Lourenço highlighted the respect paid by Angolans and foreigners who joined the pain during the seven days of national mourning decreed in honour of the former President of the Republic.
José Eduardo dos Santos died at age 79 in Barcelona, Spain, after a prolonged illness. He succeeded Agostinho Neto as President of Angola in 1979 and left office in 2017.
He was replaced by João Lourenço, also elected president of the MPLA.
For the first time, the elections in Angola will count on the participation of citizens residing abroad, 30 years after the first election in the country's history.
This turnaround comes thanks to a constitutional revision conducted in 2021, which did away with the reasons previously invoked to prevent voting abroad.
There are 14.3 million voters registered, of whom 22,560 are residing abroad, spread across 12 countries and several cities in Africa, Europe and America.
Angolans residing in South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg), Namibia (Windhoek, Oshakati and Rundu) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Matadi) are expected to vote.
Also on the African continent, Angolans residing in Congo (Brazzaville, Dolisie and Point Noire) and Zambia (Lusaka, Mongu and Solwezi) will be able to vote.
Outside the African continent, voting will be available in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and São Paulo), Germany (Berlin) and Belgium (Brussels).
Residents of France (Paris), the United Kingdom (London), Portugal (Lisbon and Porto) and the Netherlands (The Hague and Rotterdam) are also invited to take part in the process.
