Contrary to what is usual, since 7:00 am, when the polls opened, traffic in the turbulent capital was fluid and the street vendors were not visible in the always confusing area of São Paulo.
With shops, companies and state services closed, in compliance with the point tolerance given on the day of the general elections, the candongueiros, the popular blue and white public transport that are part of the Luanda landscape, also circulate practically empty.
At around 9:00 am, at the Anangola school, in the Operário neighborhood (downtown Luanda), voters were arriving in an orderly manner, counting on the guidance of electoral agents who, with tablets, helped them find the polling stations.
Aziel Kavinda, scrutineer at polling station no. 39, zealously checked the voting procedures and told Lusa that "voters are very convinced of their role", exercising their right to vote "in a very beautiful way".
Proudly displaying his finger marked with indelible ink, young João Domingos Samalanga, who is voting for the second time, left with a feeling of accomplishment.
"I am happy to make a decision for who will govern the country in five years' time and I believe that whoever is in power will do everything possible to circumvent the situation of suffering" of the Angolans, he told Lusa, before heading home to "watch some movies".
"I will wait for the results, since the decision also depends on others", he stressed.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) reported in its first report that voting was uneventful, but some people reported irregularities to Lusa, from delays in opening polling stations, filling in minutes in pencil and non-accreditation of list delegates. at polling station no. 1030, in Mulenvos de Baixo, in Cacuaco, a musseque with potholed dirt streets and self-built houses on the outskirts of the city.
At the entrance to Jericho school, angry voices denounced that not everything was going well there.
Francisco António Lopes told Lusa that the polling station started without delegates from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which wants to overthrow the rival Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in power for almost 50 years.
Lopes pointed to coercion on elderly people "who are being induced to vote for 8 (MPLA number on the ballot paper)" and argued that only with all party delegates can there be "a free, fair and transparent election".
At polling station 1030 there should be eight delegates, but the vote is being controlled only by representatives of the MPLA, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), the CASA-CE coalition and the National Patriotic Alliance (APN).
The president of the assembly acknowledged the absence of UNITA, but justified that the delegate presented herself with a credential that belonged to another table, so she was not allowed access.
Francisco António Lopes countered that there were difficulties in accrediting delegates, some of whom completed the (training) seminars, but were not accredited, so "they cannot work".
And he guaranteed that he will stay there waiting for the results, along with other inhabitants of the neighborhood: "It's not a crime, the population is outside the assembly, no confusion, no fight, it's just to see our results".
"As long as there is no transparency, as long as there is no security of my vote, I cannot leave here, at least to inhibit what can be done there. That is the reason that makes us stay here", he justified, applauded by other voters who raised their three fingers in support of the UNITA number on the ballot paper.
Nsakala Pedro "Ufolo", a civic sight, was also walking around the area, after having voted at polling station 1008, also in Mulenvos, which opened, he said, an hour after the set time.
"There are a lot of people voting," he said, complaining about the slow service, especially in the case of pregnant women and the elderly, forced to stay in queues for a long time.
The 28-year-old, a member of the Contestaria Civil Society, "independently" supervises the elections, being a member of the Mudei civic movement, committing to go after 5:00 pm to the assemblies to check the summary minutes and take a photo with the results to send to the parallel polling center set up by Mudei.
He says that the exercise of the vote is the "most outstanding right of citizenship" and without mentioning whether he responded to the appeal of "Votou, Sentou", launched by UNITA, he stressed that he intends to "independently monitor your vote, without riots, without scandal, without confusion", fulfilling the distance of 500 meters from the assembly.
"I'm not alone, I went to many assemblies and saw other young people, voluntarily, sitting 500 meters from the assembly", he stressed, appealing to the CNE to do something to correct the irregularities detected.
"Ufolo" underlined, despite everything, that there is a greater political maturity: "we managed to really change the conscience of the Angolan citizen", who is "really aware that voting is a responsibility, because "it is a day that will define the way of Angolans in the next five years".
Adelino Batista, a voter in the same location, expressed hope that "the elections will not be like in the past when the crowd gave its best to one candidate, but then [the vote] was transferred to another candidate."
"This time, we ask that things be done according to the will of the people and the will of God and that the CNE when making the count does not cheat and the count is credible", he appealed.
"Isn't that so, my people?", asked the young man, turning to the onlookers next to him, who enthusiastically answered yes.
In Sambizanga, a poor neighborhood in Luanda where former president José Eduardo dos Santos was born, Clementina Vitorino has been voting since 1992 and came to "ask God that everything goes well" and "may the people rejoice" with the new ruler.
She praised the organization of the election in contrast to other years, "where people spent the day there", saying goodbye to "go and prepare lunch".
Leaving the polling station of the one where she marked, for the first time, her choice, in an improvised polling station with a card, Janete Alberto Cassoma, 22, explained that the vote "is important for the change" of her country.
"I hope the vote is fair and everything goes well," said the young woman, who went to vote with her son, little Nael.
