Angolan Leader Dos Santos to Step Down After 38 Years in Power
- Defense Minister Lourenco named MPLA presidential candidate
- Angola’s had same ruler since 1979, vote planned for August
This article is for subscribers only.
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979, won’t stand as the ruling party’s top candidate in elections this year, ending an era that was burdened by civil war while he expanded oil output to rival Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer.
Defense Minister Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco will be the pick for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the August vote, Dos Santos said at the opening of the MPLA’s central committee meeting in Luanda, the capital, on Friday. Bornito de Sousa, the minister of territorial administration, is the vice presidential candidate.