28 August 2008
Luanda — It seems like a playground game. Every day, Angola's main opposition party sends teams out across Luanda to hang flags, posters and pictures of their leader Isaías Samakuva.
But usually by the next morning the green and red of UNITA (União Nacional pela Independência Total de Angola) has been replaced by a shower of red, black and yellow -- the colours of the ruling MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola) party - and larger photographs of their leader and the country's president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Ok, so this is a petty competition on a few city streets, but it speaks volumes for the way this election campaign is being run.
Angola's media is largely state-run and while there are some private weekly newspapers and radio stations in the capital, little "opposition" news reaches the provinces.
In a gesture to the 14 parties running in the election, the government agreed to give each party equal slots on state television and radio.
But this is competing with the endless hours of air time and pages of column inches dedicated to government successes including new schools, water systems, health centres and housing.
Jardo Muekalia is a senior member of UNITA and the party's spokesman on electoral affairs.
He said, "There's this hazy line between government and the party. The ruling party is basically doing its propaganda and its electoral campaign using government actions.
"The other thing is the party doing its campaign but of course they are mixing all of these and using public funds and public resources to conduct the campaign, transportation... all these resources.
"There is this unending saga with where the party ends and where the government begins."
On Tuesday the President visited Huambo province -- also known as the Planalto -- which was a key battleground in the 27-year civil war.
Six years after peace returned, the region is getting back on its feet with new roads and redeveloped infrastructure. But does a president's visit to a province on day 19 of an election campaign really warrant days of front pages and hours of airtime?
UNITA has been in Huambo since day one of the campaign but their presence there has barely even made it into the electoral diary published in the daily Jornal de Angola newspaper.
UNITA -- along with FDLA, (Frente Democratica Libertação Angola) PADEPA-ANA, (Partido de Apoio Democrático e Progresso de Angola) and FPD (Frente para Democracia) -- has written to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to express its concerns about the imbalances in the media.
Muekalia said, "We are supposed to be selling ideas and programmes and then have people choose on that basis. But if those in power are short on ideas but plenty on goods, that has a potential to distort what we are trying to do here."
An editorial in Wednesday's Jornal de Angola hit back at these types of criticisms and said the paper was not taking sides and was not part of the electoral campaign. It went on to say it wrote more about the MPLA that the opposition parties because the MPLA had a bigger campaign and was staging more events.
But Rafael Marques, a Luanda-based independent Angolan journalist and commentator, blasted this article as "rubbish".
He said: "Clearly Jornal de Angola is working for MPLA. The state media is being overwhelmingly used to publicise MPLA. Every time the television shows an event or rally by the opposition, it will show the worst possible images, while for the MPLA it's all very neat, very composed, very nice."
International lobby group Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the role of the state media and its propaganda and intimidation against opposition voters in the run up to the election. Georgette Gagnon, Africa director, said: "It's clear Angolans aren't able to campaign free from intimidation or pressure and unless things change now, Angolans won't be able to cast their votes freely."
"Patterns of violence include sporadic assaults by local MPLA supporters, sometimes involving traditional authorities and local MPLA leaders, against local UNITA party members and their property and party symbols," a spokeswoman added.
The ruling party hit back at these allegations saying they were not fair, but UNITA has itself reported a handful of incidents in Huambo, Lunda Norte and Huila where some party supporters were hospitalised following "scuffles" with MPLA groups.
Muekalia said: "Obviously in the interior provinces there is still some fear out there. And that fear stems from the fact there has been quite a lot of intimidation in some these provinces and also there have been some statements from government officials suggesting that if the MPLA loses there will be an earthquake in Angola.
"Of course people interpret this in different ways. Will this be an earthquake in the country or within the MPLA party?
"Our message to people is: people will vote on September 5 and life will continue. The sun will rise just as it normally rises, we will wait for the results to be announced and we will simply continue to live our lives waiting for the next election."
This is Angola's first election in 16 years and only its second since independence from Portugal in 1975. The 1992 poll sparked a second stage of the civil war.
The long-running war between MPLA and UNITA came to a halt in 2002 following the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.
Six years after this "outbreak of peace," the country's economy is booming with Angola now the largest exporter of oil to China. Angola earned an estimated record $41 billion in oil exports last year, up from $30 billion in 2006, according to estimates by JP Morgan.
Dozens of new hotels and football stadiums are being built to prepare for CAN 2010 and billions of dollars are being pumped into the country's real estate market.
International observers from the European Union and SADC (Southern African Development Community) are in Angola to witness the poll. They are joined by the national observers.
Luisa Morgantini, the chief of the EU observer mission, said she was satisfied so far with the country's preparations and she praised the politicians, including the president, for the language of tolerance and their commitment to peace among the electorate.
Marques noted: "I think the most important note of the campaign is how peaceful it is going and that's extremely important to give confidence for people to go to the polls."
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