The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party, is a political party that has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese army in the Angolan War of Independence of 1961–74, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), two other anti-colonial movements, in the Angolan Civil War of 1975–2002.
The President of the Republic of Angola is both head of state and head of government in Angola. According to the constitution adopted in 2010, the post of Prime Minister is abolished; executive authority belongs to the President who has also a degree of legislative powers, as he can govern by decree.
José Eduardo dos Santos is an Angolan politician who served as President of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As President, José Eduardo dos Santos was also the commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and President of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the party that has ruled Angola since it gained independence in 1975. He was the second-longest-serving president in Africa, surpassed only by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who took power less than two months before dos Santos.
Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, known as Nandó, is an Angolan politician who was Vice President of Angola from February 2010 to September 2012. He was the Prime Minister of Angola from 2002 to 2008 and President of the National Assembly of Angola from 2008 to 2010. He has again served as President of the National Assembly since 2012.
António Agostinho Neto served as the 1st President of Angola (1975–1979), having led the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the war for independence (1961–1974). Until his death, he led the MPLA in the civil war (1975–2002). Known also for his literary activities, he is considered Angola's preeminent poet. His birthday is celebrated as National Heroes' Day, a public holiday in Angola.
The National Front for the Liberation of Angola is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independence, under the leadership of Holden Roberto.
Elections in Angola take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The National Assembly is directly elected by voters, whilst the leader of the largest party or coalition in the National Assembly automatically becomes President. The country is currently a one-party dominant state, with the MPLA as the dominant party.
The Angolan War of Independence (1961–1974) began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and it became a multi-faction struggle for the control of Portugal's overseas province of Angola among three nationalist movements and a separatist movement. The war ended when a leftist military coup in Lisbon in April 1974 overthrew Portugal's Estado Novo regime, and the new regime immediately stopped all military action in the African colonies, declaring its intention to grant them independence without delay.
The Angolan Civil War was a civil conflict in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was a power struggle between two former liberation movements, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The war was used as a surrogate battleground for the Cold War by rival states such as the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa and the United States.
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia, Zambia, and Angola from 26 August 1966 to 21 March 1990. It was fought between the South African Defence Force (SADF) and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), an armed wing of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). The South African Border War resulted in some of the largest battles on the African continent since World War II and was closely intertwined with the Angolan Civil War.
The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of Angola. The National Assembly is a unicameral body, with 220 members: 130 members elected by proportional representation and 90 members elected by provincial districts.
Carlos Domingues Bendinha de Almeida is an Angolan professional basketball shooting guard and a member of the Angola national basketball team. He is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) in height and 91 kg in weight. Almeida played for Angola at the 2000 and the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2002 and 2006 basketball world championship as well as the 2005, 2007 Africa championships and 2009 Africa championship.
Since its independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola has had three constitutions. The first came into force in 1975 as an "interim" measure; the second was approved in a 1992 referendum, and the third one was instituted in 2010.
Angola–Vietnam relations were established in August 1971, four years before Angola gained its independence, when future President of Angola Agostinho Neto visited Vietnam. Angola and Vietnam have steadfast partners as both transitioned from Cold War-era foreign policies of international communism to pro-Western pragmatism following the fall of the Soviet Union.
General Roberto Leal Monteiro, nicknamed Ngongo, is Home Affairs Minister of Angola, a top governmental position in that country. He is — along with fellow "top generals" Higino Carneiro, João Maria de Sousa, Hélder Vieira Dias, and Kundi Paihama — one of the military leaders holding top ministerial posts for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the political party that has ruled Angola since it gained its independence from Portugal in 1975.
New Democracy Electoral Union is a political coalition in Angola, founded November 18, 2006. The coalition was registered by the Supreme Court in June 2008, ahead of the September 2008 legislative election. Most of the constituents of the coalition had previously been affiliated to another coalition, Partidos da Opocição Civil. Quintino de Moreira is the president of the coalition. He is also the president of the MPDA.
Legislative elections were held in Angola on 31 August 2012. During campaigning, the opposition UNITA and its offshoot CASA-CE accused and criticised the government of corruption and called for greater transparency; this also led to protests and arrests the day before the election. These were the first elections after the new 2010 Constitution was instituted.
João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço,GColIH is an Angolan politician who has served as the President of Angola since 26 September 2017. Previously, he was Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018 he became the Chairman of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the ruling party. He was the party's Secretary-General from 1998 to 2003.
