Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Angolan officials scrambled to address logistical problems that impeded the start of country's first parliamentary election in 16 years, enabling most people to vote by the time polls officially closed.

There were initial reports of a single fatal incident, in which four people were trampled to death.

While observers and party officials said voting went smoothly in the countryside, there were delays in delivering ballots to polling stations in the capital, Luanda, leaving lines of frustrated people waiting in the blazing sun. Most polling stations in the city were empty by late afternoon.

``The papers arrived late,'' Joaquim Cambula, who helped oversee the vote in Luanda's Mulembeira district, said in an interview. ``Now everything is okay. Everybody has voted, everybody is happy.''

Angola, Africa's biggest oil producer, last held an election in 1992. Then a dispute over the results reignited a civil war that claimed more than 1 million lives before it ended in 2002.

The main opposition party, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or Unita, says today's poll is geared toward extending the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola's 33-year grip on power. Even so, it has ruled out a return to violence.

Polling Stations

Almost 8.3 million people registered to vote. The electoral commission expects to have results from the balloting at more than 12,000 polling stations within 10 days. More than 5,000 candidates from 10 parties and four coalitions are running for 220 parliamentary seats.

``The logistical problems, which were initially cause for concern, were addressed by the electoral commission,'' said John Kunene, the head of a 200-member observer Mission from the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation regional grouping. ``People were able to exercise their voting rights.''

Four people were killed in the district of Viana, on Luanda's eastern outskirts, when a crowd tried to force its way into a polling station after growing impatient to vote, said Jardo Muekalia, Unita's campaign manager.

``That is the only incident I'm aware of,'' Muekalia said by telephone today.

``In some of the polling stations there was a bit of chaos,'' Luisa Morgantini, head of a 90-member European Union observer mission, told reporters in Luanda. ``I didn't see any form of clashes.''

Electoral Commission

The National Electoral Commission said everyone who had lined up to vote by the time polling stations officially shut at 6 p.m. would be able to cast ballots.

``The problems were solved,'' the commission's head, Caetano de Sousa, told reporters. ``We will be able to be done with the voting issue in Luanda'' today.

De Sousa was unable to confirm whether anyone had died during the voting, while calls seeking information from regional police command offices in Luanda went unanswered.

Unita President Isaias Samakuva expressed dissatisfaction with the election after casting his ballot.

``We will continue to follow this process and see how it will end up,'' he told reporters. ``Until this moment, the situation is unacceptable.''

Samakuva, 62, and observers, including New York-based Human Rights Watch, have criticized preparations for the vote, saying President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos's ruling MPLA party used state resources to campaign and had disproportionate access to the media.

Unfair Play

Dos Santos, whose party has rejected allegations of unfair play, cast his ballot near his official residence in Luanda. The 66-year-old leader is expected to run in a presidential poll next year.

``There is tolerance; there is respect for other people's opinions,'' Dos Santos said in an interview with state television. ``This is a very important political moment, a historic moment for Angola.''

In the 1992 poll, the MPLA won 54 percent of the vote and Unita 34 percent. Both parties have promised to cut poverty and improve access to health and education if elected. Angola's oil exports exceeded $43 billion last year, yet about 70 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank's latest data.

``What has struck me is there is not really a vision'' from the parties contesting the poll, said Morgantini of the EU observer mission. ``There is not really any content to their policies. The country has a long way to go.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Cohen in Luanda at mcohen21@bloomberg.net; Candido Mendes in Luanda via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 5, 2008 15:05 EDT