With the streets of Luanda already decorated with the colors of the eight political forces competing in the country's fifth elections, young people contacted by Lusa, who exercise their right to vote for the first time, say they are prepared.
"I hope for good and correct elections, the previous elections had a lot of turmoil and we hope that in these elections people vote on the same day, and not what happened in the past elections," Damião Capoco, 21, told Lusa on Saturday.
Unemployed and walking along the Luanda waterfront looking for a job, the young man says he is aware of the importance of his vote: "I'm going to help the country, I'm going to show the right side that the country has to follow".
The political forces competing for the elections – seven parties and a coalition – are campaigning across the country, seeking to mobilize voters, while Damião Capoco is skeptical about the transparency of the electoral process.
"I don't think (the elections will be fair and transparent), because the ruling party, MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), is always sabotaging," he said.
The young man criticized the reduced airtime of political parties in the media, particularly TV Zimbo, a private television that passed into the hands of the State, for broadcasting a UNITA congress with "numerous flaws".
"This for me is very worrying, because it affects all of us because we see a party that is bad and we see a good one, when a television network has to play in what is right", he pointed out.
Eduardo Rafael, 18, will also vote for the first time on the 24th of this month. He knows the importance of his vote for the socio-political life of the country and believes in the fairness and transparency of the elections.
The electoral campaign "is going very well and I hope it continues that way, the importance of the vote is for the citizen to change president or that candidate he likes", he said in statements to Lusa.
"Changes" in the sectors of education and electricity distribution is what the young street sweeper who asks Angolans like him for a "conscious vote".
"Young people like me, who are going to vote for the first time, I hope you vote for sure, vote for sure, don't vote in doubt, vote where your heart tells you," he further urged.
Among the 14 million voters expected to go to the polls in the fifth general elections will also be Eduardo Vatileny, 26, who for the first time will vote in his area of residence, in the neighborhood of Paz, in the urban district of Sambizanga.
The student trusts in the smoothness and transparency of the process, in the light of what he sees and hears in the media, so he will vote for the first time "to choose the new candidate who will lead the future of Angola".
"The campaign is going well, the vote is important for every citizen to choose the new leader and the deputies to the National Assembly".
The fifth general elections in Angola's political history are scheduled for August 24, 2022 and at the moment the electoral campaign is spread across the country's 18 provinces.
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power since 1975), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola – Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE), Social Renewal Party (PRS) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) are the competitors.
In the electoral race are also the National Patriotic Alliance (APN), the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) and the National Party for Justice in Angola (P-Njango), the last two approved this year by the Constitutional Court.
The electoral campaign, which began on the 24th of July, runs until the 22nd of August.
The President will be the head of the list of the most voted party by the national circle. The current head of state is running for his second term.
