Angola: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President José Eduardo Dos Santos
Head of Government: President José Eduardo Dos Santos

Angola is governed by a president, vice president, and 90 appointed ministers, deputy ministers, and state secretaries. Political power is concentrated in the presidency. The executive branch of the government is composed of the president (head of state and government), the vice president, ministers of state, and the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers, composed of all government ministers and secretaries of state, meets regularly to discuss policy issues. The president, the Council of Ministers, and individual ministers in their areas of competence have the ability to legislate by decree.

Of the 220 deputies currently seated in the National Assembly, 130 are elected at large, and 5 are elected to represent each of the 18 provinces. The electoral law also calls for the election of three additional deputies to represent citizens living abroad; however, those positions have not been filled.

Angola held legislative elections on September 5, 2008, its first since 1992. Due to technical difficulties on election day, voting was extended through September 6 in some constituencies. The results of the elections were accepted by UNITA and most other opposition parties. The MPLA won 81.6% of the electorate, giving it an absolute majority with 191 out of 220 seats in parliament. The remaining 29 parliamentary seats were won by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) (16), the Social Renewal Party (PRS) (8), National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) (3), and the New Democracy (ND) coalition (2).

Angola enacted a new constitution on February 5, 2010 and on February 8, President dos Santos swore in a new government. The new constitution established a party list system under which citizens vote for a party (not an individual candidate) and the president will be the leader of the winning party’s list. It also introduced a new office of the vice president, and eliminated the position of prime minister. The next presidential and parliamentary elections are expected to take place in late 2012. Although President dos Santos has not formally declared his candidacy, most commentators expect him to run.

There are no local, municipal, or provincial elections in Angola and no clear timeline for such elections; the new constitution states only that such institutions should be established “gradually.” The country is divided into 18 provinces. Governors of the provinces are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the president. The government has embarked on a program of decentralization, and in August 2007 the Council of Ministers passed a resolution to grant some municipalities control of their own budgets; this measure was extended to all municipalities in 2008.

The legal system is based on Portuguese and customary law but is weak and fragmented. Courts operate in only a fraction of the 164 municipalities. A Supreme Court serves as the appellate tribunal; a constitutional court was established in May 2008.

The 27-year civil war ravaged the country's political and social institutions. Daily conditions of life throughout the country mirror the inadequate administrative infrastructure as well as inadequate social institutions, for which government support is often weak. Many hospitals are without medicines or basic equipment, schools are without books, and public employees often lack the basic supplies for their daily work. The government estimates that 4.7 million people were internally displaced by the civil war. In March 2007, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Angola jointly celebrated the end of a 5-year organized voluntary repatriation program that returned home more than 400,000 Angolan refugees. According to the UNHCR, 146,814 refugees remained outside Angola, mainly in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Namibia. Although 52,000 of these refugees are supposed to return by the end of 2011, when UNHCR will apply the cessation clause for their refugee status, Angola is not expected to meet this figure.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
From 1975 to 1989, Angola was aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. Since then, it has focused on improving relationships with Western countries, cultivating links with other Portuguese-speaking countries, and asserting its own national interests in Central Africa through military and diplomatic intervention, though ties with Cuba remain strong.

Angola joined the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in order to improve ties with its largely Anglophone neighbors to the south and east. Angola holds the SADC presidency from September 2011 to September 2012. Multilaterally, Angola has promoted the revival of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) as a forum for cultural exchange and a means of expanding ties with Portugal and Brazil.

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