Angola’s first elected president

Published on 27/09/2012 00:00

Angola swore in an elected president for the first time in its history yesterday, with long-serving leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos taking the oath for a fresh five-year mandate on top of his 33 years at the helm of Africa’s second biggest oil producer.

Mr dos Santos has been in power since 1979 and is Africa’s second-longest serving leader after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Until his MPLA party comfortably won an election last month, Mr dos Santos had never been elected directly into office. Angola’s violent past meant the election was only its third ballot since independence in 1975.