"The Portuguese said: 'Either go or split!'" shouted Abel Chivukuvuku, leader of PRA-JA Servir Angola, who will be running for vice president, behind Adalberto Costa Júnior, leader of UNITA.
"We are the national team," shouted Chivukuvuku, a former UNITA dissident, who founded and led the third largest parliamentary party and has now made peace with the party, in a united front of opposition.
The list also includes independents and elements associated with the Democratic Bloc (the fourth largest party, which decided not to run in the name of opposition unity).
"And in the national team, who is our captain? Our Lionel Messi?", asked Chivukuvuku, getting the unison answer: "ACJ".
The colors on the dust in the room were UNITA's green and yellow, but here and there other symbols appeared. Rui had a shirt from UNITA's "A Hora é Agora" campaign, but the hat was from the Democratic Bloc.
"I'm from the Bloco, I'm not from UNITA. It's the first time I'm here [at the party rally], but we have to be together," he said. "We are together, but against the M", he says goodbye, with the traditional Angolan greeting and the diminutive of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
João Santos has a 50-year-old UPA [União dos Povos de Angola] t-shirt. It was the t-shirt of his father who fought against the Portuguese and always voted for the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). Today, João Santos has a UNITA hat and helps organize the rally.
"Today there is only one solution [for Angola], it is UNITA", he pointed out. "First we have to have democracy and then we will all choose our things freely", he replied to Lusa, faced with the use of a symbol of a party that has already ended.
The leader of the Democratic Bloc, Filomeno Vieira Lopes, also spoke and promised to unite the opposition in an attempt to dethrone the MPLA at the polls. "We've had national independence for 47 years, but we still don't have national liberation," he snapped.
"We voted for our gourd and then they cast our vote in another gourd", recalled Vieira Lopes.
Ana Fátima, 17, cannot vote, but she didn't want to miss the rally. "I don't vote, but I scream and help", she said, in the break of the noise that had been heard since late morning in the area.
"With fraud or without fraud, we won", "our rooster arrived" or "UNITA iéé" were some of the most repeated phrases, along with "Votou, sat down, because the butt is mine", an expression that has been repeated wherever UNITA goes.
The "Votou, Sentou" campaign is an African trend that has led opposition parties to demand transparency in the electoral process. Voters are invited to stay in polling station areas to control the publication of results minutes.
Among UNITA supporters, there are many who fear that the votes will not be properly counted and that the government will then repress possible demonstrations, similarly to what happened recently in the Kenyan elections.
Confident of victory, Abel Chivukuvuku addressed the authorities: "I solemnly ask the military of our country, the military and national security. On the 24th, 25th and 26th and following, we trust you and you also trust Adalberto Costa Júnior" .
Eight political forces, seven parties and a coalition of parties are running for the elections on 24 August, which will elect the President of the Republic, the vice-president and the deputies to the National Assembly.
