Country profile
Angola
Republica de Angola
Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa
AO · AGO
- Capital
- Luanda
- Population
- 36,170,961
- Area
- 1,246,700 km²
- Democracy index
- 36
- Regime type
- Electoral Autocracy
Events
Ballots from Angola
The latest elections, referendums, and opinion polls from Angola. Community totals are not official results.
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Classification
Democracy profile
The score and regime label are assigned by Porto Voto using our in-house democracy index and classification framework, not ratings from governments or external agencies.
Democracy index
36/100
Regime type
Electoral Autocracy
The political environment in Angola is characterized by the continued dominance of the MPLA, which has maintained executive control for nearly five decades. While the 2022 general elections and subsequent local political cycles involve multi party competition, the playing field remains deeply uneven due to the ruling party's influence over the National Electoral Commission and the judicial system. President João Lourenço has consolidated power through an anti corruption campaign that critics argue selectively targets political rivals while shielding loyalists. Civil society organizations and independent media outlets face periodic harassment, and the right to peaceful assembly is frequently restricted by security forces using heavy handed tactics. Legislative updates have ostensibly aimed at decentralization, yet the central government continues to delay local elections, effectively stifling grassroots political pluralism. High levels of wealth inequality and a state centered economy further limit the ability of opposition movements to build sustainable institutional power. Consequently, the government maintains a facade of democratic competition while ensuring that the core structures of authority remain insulated from genuine public challenge or accountability.
Last evaluation:
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Country background
A concise introduction to Angola, together with notes on how power and law are organized, to put local ballots in context.
Bantu-speaking people settled in the area now called Angola in 6th century A.D.; by the 10th century various Bantu groups had established kingdoms, of which Kongo became the most powerful. From the late-14th to the mid-19th century, a Kingdom of Kongo stretched across central Africa from present-day northern Angola into the current Congo republics. It traded heavily with the Portuguese who, beginning in the 16th century, established coastal colonies and trading posts and introduced Christianity.
Angola became a major hub of the transatlantic slave trade conducted by the Portuguese and other European powers -- often in collaboration with local kingdoms, including the Kongo. The Angola area is estimated to have lost as many as 4 million people as a result of the slave trade. The Kingdom of Kongo’s main rival was the Kingdom of Ndongo to its south, whose most famous leader was Nzingha Mbande, the 17th century diplomat to the Portuguese and later Queen, who successfully fought off Portuguese encroachment during her nearly 40-year reign.
Smaller kingdoms, such as the Matamba and Ngoyo, often came under the control of the Kongo or Ndongo Kingdoms. During the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, Portugal and other European powers set Angola’s modern borders, but the Portuguese did not fully control large portions of the territory. Portugal gained control of the Kingdom of Kongo in 1888 when Kongo’s King Pedro V sought Portuguese military assistance in exchange for becoming a vassal.
After a revolt in 1914, Portugal imposed direct rule over the colony and abolished the Kongo Kingdom. The Angolan National Revolution began in 1961, and in 1975, Angola won its independence when Portugal’s dictatorship fell, a collapse that occurred in part because of growing discontent over conflict in Angola and other colonies. Angola’s multiple independence movements soon clashed, with the Popular Movement for Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by Agostinho NETO, taking power and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas SAVIMBI, emerging as its main competitor.
After NETO’s death in 1979, Jose Eduardo DOS SANTOS, also of the MPLA, became president. Over time, the Angolan civil war escalated and became a major Cold War conflict, with the Soviet Union and Cuba supporting the MPLA and the US and South Africa supporting UNITA. Up to 1.5 million lives may have been lost -- and 4 million people displaced -- during the more than a quarter-century of fighting.
SAVIMBI's death in 2002 ended UNITA's insurgency and cemented the MPLA's hold on power. DOS SANTOS did not seek reelection in 2017 and supported Joao LOURENCO’s successful bid to become president. LOURENCO was reelected in 2022.
Angola scores low on human development indexes despite using its large oil reserves to rebuild since 2002.