Angola: Elections in pictures

This Friday September 05 was a special day in Angola. After lukewarm elections campaigning, the population was excited to vote for a new parliament in the first elections in 16 years. For many people, this was the first opportunity to exercise their right to vote. Most of the population went peacefully to about 12,000 polling stations, however voting is to continue today at 320 stations in the capital Luanda, due to yesterday's logistical problems that caused delays in the delivery of ballots.

As reactions start to appear on the blogosphere, a full report is on its way. For now here are some pictures showing the run up to the historic day, registered by José Manuel Lima da Silva, Flickr user Kool2bBop, along with his own remarks:

Unidade Nacional. Angola está a provar ao mundo que, apesar das diferenças, é um povo UNIDO.
UM SÓ POVO, UMA SÓ NAÇÃO.
Esperemos que tudo acabe como até aqui! – civismo

“National Unity. Angola is showing the world that, despite differences, it has a united people. One people, one nation. We hope it will be like this in the end – public spirit!”




There are many more pictures of the actual big day at Tiago Sousa‘s and Sam.Seyffert‘s flickr galleries.

Around 8.3 million people have registered to vote, choosing from among over 5,000 candidates from 10 parties and four coalitions. There are in total 220 parliamentary seats.

10 comments

  • hey i would just like it so mutcjh if u guys can put more pictures on the web, to explain more. most kids need it for task and assesments.

    thanks

  • Di

    Why are you only showing pictures that focus only on poverty….In six years a lot more has been done then what was promised by the donor countries, one of wich I believe is probably yours. Africa is changing with or without your support we are a proof of that. We still have problems, you had 500 years to assist us but instead what you did was to exploit us. Please alow us to make our own decisions and choose who ever we feel like to rule our country or to help us like the chinese are doing.
    Please stop teaching us how to behave, what we need is real opportunities and actions or commitment.

  • Di

    Fotos nr 4 and 6 shows us the same person but wearing a diferent T-shirt …. meaning you are trying to manipulate the spirit of the elections since the person standing on the right side of the photo nr.4 is the same one standing on pic nr 6 ( wearing an MPLA ) T-shirt . Looking for MODELS you can find in Angola much good looking ones

  • Hello Di

    Those were all pictures available from Angolan photographer Jose’s Flickr account with in a way represents his point of view – he had given previous authorization to publish them. Please bear in mind that we don’t publish content otherwise. I also left a link to two galleries with pictures from the actual day (these, as I said in the post, are from the run up days). Both photographers later gave us authorization to use them, which we will do in the next article. If you have other pictures showing another side and you want to see them here, please let me know.

    Paula

  • DI
    I am the photographer. I am not showing “only poverty” These are photos taken recently in Luanda. As you can imagine I have the permition from those models to publish their faces online. I have beautiful women as well but they did not give me any permition. People from pix #4 are not the same as in #6.

  • Nice to see Angola reaching political maturity and holding elections in peace. I seriously believe in the African Union – Africans solving African problems, and the more Europe shuts up and butts out, the better. 500 years of imperialism did nothing but create problems for Africans. The world has a moral duty to help the African stand on its feet without interfering. If the Jews gain moral baggage due to the holocaust, then what about the African holocaust, centuries of slavery and outright stealing?

  • hi can i use this pictures from a note for amnesty International Venezuela ???

  • Hello Manuel

    Please ask the photographer’s permission – he can be contacted through Flickr:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kool2bbop/

    Paula

  • […] the eve of voting life got exciting. Traumatized by the events of 1992, when the the guerrilla war was resumed after the election […]

  • Maria José Cardoso

    Parabens aos autores das fotos. Magnificas. Gostaria de contactá-los para um intercâmbio. dei uma olhadela ao http://flickr.com/photos/kool2bbop/ fique pasmada com a qualidade da fotos.
    Felicidades ao povo de Angola que, apesar destes anos todos, continua a ser do melhor que existe em África. Muita alegria

    Parabens ao Globalvoicesonline por nos ter dado esta oportunidade de contempla e ler artigos interessantes
    Força!

    GVO Translation

    Congratulations to the photographers! Fantastic! I would like to contact them for an exchange. I had a quick look at http://flickr.com/photos/kool2bbop/ and was amazed by the quality of the pictures. Happiness to the Angolan people who despite all these years continue to be the best that there are in Africa. Much joy.

    Congratulations to Global Voices Online for giving us this opportunity to read such interesting articles.

    Best

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