"We have just exercised our right to vote, it's quick and simple", said João Lourenço, showing his index finger with indelible ink and inviting voters to do the same.
In the midst of a huge confusion of journalists who involved João Lourenço to record the moment, the candidate of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) stressed that everyone wins: "it is democracy that wins, it is Angola that wins", he declared.
Polling station No. 105 was small for the dozens of journalists, voters and international observers who had gathered there and where the president of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Manuel Pereira da Silva, the Minister of State and Civil House, Adão de Almeida, the governor of Luanda, Ana Paula Carvalho, among other individuals.
Upon the arrival of João Lourenço, who was accompanied by his wife, Ana Dias Lourenço, a woman shouted: "Jesus is coming!"
"God is saying, every knee will bow," she repeated three times as the MPLA candidate walked to the polling station.
To the room where João Lourenço voted, only a very limited number of journalists and some observers could access, being forced to wear a mask despite the CNE having relaxed restrictions against covid-19 and allowed to vote without a mask.
The MPLA candidate repeated the voting gestures, with and without a mask, to allow the capture of images in both versions.
The fifth general elections in Angola perpetuate the dispute between the country's two main parties, the MPLA and UNITA, which are trying to win a majority of the 220 seats in the National Assembly.
João Lourenço, current President, is trying for a second term and his main opponent is Adalberto Costa Júnior.
In total, eight political formations are running, trying to win the vote of 14.4 million voters. The approximately 13,000 polling stations in the country and the diaspora will be open between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm (same time in Lisbon).
The electoral process, which has around 1300 national and international observers, has been criticized by the opposition, considering it not very transparent.
