ANGOLA:ANGOLA'S FIRST election since the civil war finished six years ago was described as an organisational disaster yesterday by European Union observers of polling in the oil rich nation's capital, Luanda.
Voters queued outside polling stations across the city from the early morning, eager to cast their vote, but many stations did not open until mid-morning and some had no voter lists.
There was also a shortage of ballot papers and ink to mark voters' fingers to prevent multiple voting. Also, some polling officials did not show up, the observers said.
Yesterday's parliamentary poll was the former Portuguese colony's first attempt to hold an election since 1992, when a dispute over results reignited a civil war which claimed the lives of at least half a million people, before ending in 2002.
President José Eduardo dos Santos and his Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party is expected to retain power.
The main opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) has created little momentum since the war ended, even though most Angolans do not benefit from the country's oil riches; Angola is the African continent's biggest oil producer.
After touring some of Luanda's polling stations the EU observer mission chief Luisa Morgantini said the efficiency her team of independent monitors had seen during the run-up to the vote had vanished on polling day.
"What we have seen in the three polling stations we have visited in Luanda is a disaster. They have not started voting yet. They did not prepare . . .
"The efficiency that we have seen during the campaign, you don't see it on the ground. You see confusion," she said, mid-morning. African election observers said voting went more smoothly in the rural areas.
After casting his vote Mr dos Santos, who has been Angola's president for 29 years, gave state television an interview.
"Up to now things are going well . . . There is tolerance, there is respect for other people's opinions. This is a very important political moment, a historic moment for Angola," he said.
However, the ruling regime was heavily criticised ahead of the poll by the New York-based Human Rights Watch for its monopoly over state resources, including the media, during its campaign. The electoral commission expects to have results for the 220 parliamentary seats within 10 days.