Ruling MPLA wins parliamentary vote, in Angola

Angola's ruling party, MPLA won the country's parliamentary elections, but lost ground to the opposition, the electoral commission said citing provisional results.

Joao Lourenco, the country's defence minister, will replace President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is stepping down after 38 years in power.

The 74-year-old dos Santos is expected to remain head of the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, which has ruled Angola since it gained independence from Portuguese rule in 1975.

The electoral commission said the MPLA had won 150 of 220 parliamentary seats in the National Assembly, giving them the two-thirds majority needed to pass any legislation without help from another party.

"The process violated the law and the principles of democracy," Claudio Silva, who sits on the electoral commission as a UNITA representative, told Reuters news agency.

UCJ, UNILORIN.