About a year away from the next general elections, the succession of João Lourenço dominates political debate. MPLA has not yet chosen its presidential candidate, while UNITA bets on Adalberto Costa Júnior and seeks to strengthen the opposition.
Angola is preparing for the 2027 general elections in a political context marked by the succession of João Lourenço, the internal preparation of the MPLA, and the attempt by UNITA to transform the electoral growth recorded in 2022 into an alternative power.
The vote should take place, preferably, in the second half of August next year, but the date has not yet been set. The National Electoral Commission (CNE) has already begun logistical preparations, and the electoral roll is being updated.
Angolans should return to the polls in August 2027 to elect the 220 deputies to the National Assembly and, through the Angolan constitutional system, the next President of the Republic.
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The Constitution determines that general elections should preferably be held during the second half of August of the year in which the terms of the President and deputies end. The formal call belongs to the President of the Republic, after hearing the CNE and the Council of the Republic. The exact date has not yet been announced.
The electoral machinery, however, is already in motion. In June, the CNE authorized the production of ballot boxes, voting booths, and identification materials for polling stations, classifying the decision as another stage in the preparation schedule for the 2027 elections.
The Spanish company Indra, which won the public tender for the technological and logistical electoral solution, has also already begun work with the CNE. The 2027 election will have a fundamental difference compared to the previous two: João Lourenço will not be able to run for a third presidential term.
The President came to power in 2017 and was re-elected in 2022. The Constitution establishes that each citizen can serve up to two terms as President of the Republic. Succession has therefore become one of the main political questions in Angola. And the answer will have to be found first within the MPLA.
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The ruling party is preparing its IX Ordinary Congress, scheduled for December 9 and 10, 2026, in Luanda. João Lourenço has already formalized his candidacy for the presidency of the MPLA. The application was delivered to the candidacy subcommittee in May, with over 11,000 signatures.
Lourenço’s continued leadership of the party is politically relevant because the MPLA will later have to choose the top candidate on the list for the 2027 general elections. The party itself states that the congress will serve to renew governing bodies and prepare the political formation for next year’s elections.
The internal succession of the MPLA is far from peaceful. Former general and party leader Higino Carneiro submitted a candidacy for the presidency of the MPLA and delivered over 19,000 signatures. The candidacy was subsequently annulled by the congress subcommittee, which pointed out alleged irregularities in thousands of forms.
Higino Carneiro contests the decision and appealed to the Constitutional Court. The court admitted the injunction presented by the politician and notified the MPLA to respond.
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In August, Carneiro affirmed once again that he would not give up the race for party leadership. The process could, therefore, continue to influence the preparation of the congress and the definition of the MPLA’s future presidential candidate.
This is, at this moment, one of the biggest unknowns in Angolan politics. There is still no officially chosen MPLA presidential candidate. Several names have been pointed out in political debate and behind the scenes in the party, but their eventual candidacy should not be presented as definitive while the internal process is not completed.
Among the names that have emerged are figures such as Virgílio de Fontes Pereira, Álvaro de Boavida Neto, and Carlos Feijó, as well as other leaders and former party officials. The succession has been described as a process marked by internal dispute and uncertainty. The MPLA leadership itself has insisted that the choice of the candidate for the general elections will emerge from the party process. Therefore, today’s electoral picture can still change significantly until the end of 2026.
On the other side is UNITA, the main opposition force. Adalberto Costa Júnior, president of the party, publicly stated that he will be a candidate in the 2027 presidential elections. UNITA leadership has also indicated that the party intends to present its own candidate instead of supporting an external personality.
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Costa Júnior’s position also relies on UNITA’s statutes, according to which the party president is the formation’s presidential candidate. The opposition reaches this election with a significantly larger electoral base than in previous votes.
In the 2022 general elections, the MPLA won with 51.17% of the votes and 124 deputies. UNITA reached 43.95% and 90 deputies, the best result in its electoral history since the return to multi-party democracy.
The difference between the two main parties was, therefore, just over seven percentage points. The result reinforced the idea that the 2027 contest could be more competitive than previous votes, although any prediction about the winner is premature. There was also a particularly relevant data point: voter turnout was only 44.82% in 2022, according to official CNE results. The mobilization of voters who traditionally do not participate could have significant weight in 2027.
UNITA is also trying to rebuild and expand the United Patriotic Front (FPU). Adalberto Costa Júnior recently announced that the name will be kept and that work to integrate new partners is completed, with the new composition expected to be presented publicly soon. The intention is to formalize the front with the Constitutional Court.
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The strategy seeks to bring together different sectors of the opposition and civil society personalities around a single candidacy and project for change. Not all partners that will compose the new FPU configuration are known yet.
Another relevant name in the opposition field is Abel Chivukuvuku, leader of PRA-JA Servir Angola. The politician has advocated for a strategy of concertation among different forces, although he has also insisted on the need for a formal coalition instead of a simple aggregation of parties.
PRA-JA’s positioning could gain importance as the definition of alliances for 2027 approaches. The final configuration of the opposition remains, however, open.
While parties discuss candidacies and alliances, the electoral process also advances administratively. The CNE has been monitoring the updating of the voter registry, and on August 19, the president of the body himself, Manuel Pereira da Silva, performed the registry update and proof of life for the 2027 elections.
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The CNE chose as its slogan for the upcoming electoral process “Angolans, Everyone to the Vote,” in an attempt to combat the high abstention rate recorded in 2022.
The election will be more than a contest between presidential candidates. For the MPLA, what will be at stake is maintaining power after more than five decades of governance, but also ensuring an internal transition capable of preserving party unity after João Lourenço leaves the Presidency.
For UNITA, the goal will be to turn the 43.95% obtained in 2022 into an electoral victory and achieve the first political alternation since Angola’s independence in 1975.
For the remaining parties and movements, the challenge will be to gain space in a political system historically dominated by the two main forces.
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Less than a year away from the elections, the main opposition candidacy is practically defined, but that of the ruling party remains undecided. The next major moment will be the MPLA congress in December. The outcome of that process could clarify who will be the presidential candidate of the political force that has governed Angola since independence.
Until then, the internal dispute within the MPLA, the consolidation of the FPU, the preparation of the electoral machine, and voter mobilization will be the main factors to follow. The 2027 elections are still months away, but the political campaign has already begun.
