President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his “warmest and most sincere congratulations” to President João Lourenço and the people of the Republic of Angola on his re-election as the President of the Republic of Angola, the presidency said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
President Ramaphosa said the election results reflect the trust and confidence the Angolan people have in him.
“I am looking forward to working with President João Lourenço to strengthen the strong and cordial bilateral relations between our two countries as well as in matters of mutual interest in the African continent and our region, the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” President Ramaphosa added.
Ramaphosa said it further gave him great pleasure that the elections were conducted in a calm environment, where the people of Angola exercised their democratic right of electing a government of their own choosing.
The MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) won 124 of the 220 National Assembly seats. Unita (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) finished second, with 90 seats.
The nation’s largest opposition party, Unita, gained 43.95% of the votes cast, said the CNE, the electoral commission. It was the party’s smallest margin of victory in an election.
In accordance with the Angolan constitution, the top candidate of a political party that wins the most votes is elected as president.
Angola-South Africa relations
South Africa and Angola signed an agreement on the mutual establishment of representative offices on 23 January 1992. An agreement establishing full diplomatic relations was entered into on May 27, 1994, which led to the upgrading of relations to the level of embassy.
Both the South African and Angolan economies are abound with opportunities that their businesspeople can take advantage of and explore in order to produce food products for the two countries for food security.
This was said by the president of the Angola-South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Victoriano Nicolau. He was speaking on the sidelines of a business networking session hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in Luanda, Angola recently.
IOL