August 22, 2017 1:24 PM

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Angola gears up for historic vote as President Jose prepares to step down after 38 years

Angola is gearing up for a historic vote tomorrow, as longtime President Jose Eduardo dos Santos prepares to step down after 38 years in power.<br/><br/>For more than two-thirds of the population, he is the only leader they have ever known. And the vast majority of eligible voters have never seen a ballot without his name on it.<br/><br/>Defence Minister Joao Lorenco will be the candidate of the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( MPLA). The legislative elections tomorrow will pit the MPLA against the National Union for Total Independence of Angola party.<br/><br/>However, Lorenco,aged 63, is widely expected to win in a land-slide. Lorenco has pledged to fight the graft which he claims flourished under Dos Santos. Twenty-five million Angolans live in grinding poverty despite the country's enormous oil wealth. Dos Santos's daughter Isbel is reportedly Africa's richest woman.

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