Angolans vote in polls likely

Angolans voted Friday in the country's third elections since independence, with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos expected to extend his grip on power in the oil-rich nation despite a resurgent opposition. Normally teeming Luanda was unusually quiet as Friday was declared a national holiday to allow 9.7 million registered voters to visit the more than 10,000 polling stations at schools across a country twice the size of France. Voting proceeded slowly but with few hiccups -- a dramatic improvement from the last elections in 2008 when voting was extended to a second day due to chaos at polling stations. The opposition Unita party has expressed fears that its supporters will be turned away from the ballot box due to problems with the voter roll, while not all of its monitors were allowed into the polling stations. There is little doubt that Dos Santos will extend his 33-year reign. His People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) took more than 80 percent in 2008 polls that were deemed legitimate by observers despite the troubles at the polling stations. "I am satisfied because the process is going smoothly throughout the country," he said after casting his ballot at a school near the presidential palace. "Today people have power in their hands, and it's a great responsibility." Dos Santos has used his decades in office to centralise most power in his hands. His family, particularly his daughter Isabel, has capitalised on Angola's oil boom to build an international business empire. He has also poured billions into rebuilding Angola after 41 years of warfare, with 14 years of armed struggle against colonial power Portugal turning into a 27-year civil war after independence in 1975. He has used his dominance over state media to showcase roads, dams, schools and clinics built since the fighting ended a decade ago. But life in Angola has by most measures improved. The economy over the past decade was among the fastest-growing in the world. Per capita gross domestic product was nearly $1,900 in 2009 -- triple that of 2000. Life expectancy went up from about 40 in 1980 to above 51 now. The main opposition Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) argues that the economic gains have mainly benefited an elite showered with oil riches, while 55 percent of the population still live in dire poverty.Party leader Isaias Samakuva has for months criticised the electoral process, saying many names on the voter roll can't be authenticated. "I did my civic duty, even if we are still not satisfied with the electoral process," he said after voting in a posh new suburb. After taking only 10 percent of the vote in 2008, the former rebel movement needs a strong showing to prove that it remains relevant in modern politics. But that task has been complicated by a dramatic split in April. The charismatic Abel Chivukuvuku broke away to form the Casa party along with a top-level MPLA defector, smaller opposition groups and prominent figures in civil society. Casa has made in-roads by courting young voters with promises of jobs and better living conditions, striking a chord with the youth who over the past year have staged a series of unprecedented protests against Dos Santos. These elections are unfolding with few international observers. Although African nations and other Portuguese-speaking countries sent teams, even they had trouble obtaining credentials to access the polling stations. Elias Isaac, of the Open Society Institute of Southern Africa, expressed concern at the lack of authorized observers."That creates a big problem for the credibility of the election," he said. Voter registration was another problem, he added: some people had signed up to vote while they were away from home, not realizing they would have to vote at the same station where they registered. "There are a lot of people who are being turned away because they don't have their names on the voting list," said Isaac. "This is going to affect mostly the opposition." Polls close at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) and preliminary results will be released from Saturday afternoon, the head of the National Electoral Commission said. Final results are only expected next week.