Angola 2020: The Storm

On board a ship at sea, if thunder starts and lightning comes the storm follows suit. When this happens, neither doors nor windows will stop it. On the one hand, the captain, on the other, the foreman.

At this side, we have a commander and a lot of boat people. And the hind-limiters say – come on, courage, strength, support the Commander… while the Commander calmly, guides – hands to work, work and discipline.

Alerts continue to be given to the foremen, but they question – where is the Commander? Distracting the Commander and still worried about staying in the cabins, helping the storm ‘proliferate.

Some worry about those on board, others don’t. They despise the Machiavellian ‘symbol’, and love each other more than themselves, forgetting that they are all advisors.

There’s a lot of confidence in this commander. He doesn’t look like he’s going to drown.

Between promises and some administrative work , Local Elections are expected in 2020, which could be a relief, the beginning of a process of rearticulation of a democratic, centre-left, centre-right and centre political forces and parties, or another step in the consolidation of extreme left parties.

The path to the Elections will depend largely on the farsightedness of the political leaderships, their capacity to observe the social, political and economic conjuncture, to understand the wishes and desires of public opinion and voters. It will also depend on how alliances are built and candidacies are presented that are able to override negative political campaigns.

Large media companies will play a key role in influencing public opinion mindset formation and the definition of votes, but will be the alternative social media, especially those conveyed by social networks, in which fake news, the main weapons to fight and destroy opponents and the winning of votes, will stand out.

Going through the most extensive period of crisis and economic stagnation in Angolan history, amid high levels of unemployment, falling of purchasing power, growing poverty and income concentration, a large part of the population is still convinced that the “blame” for everything “lies with the MPLA” and the communist lefts, the “old politics”, identified with “corruption”, the economic crisis and the “moral” collapse. For this reason, the majority bet on the “new policy”, embodied in the Commander and his real satellites.

The exit of the Storm, and hope for Angola in the making, we can all now take part in the the “reconstruction of the country” currently underway.

The 2020 Local Elections will be an added value for the  Angolan Democracy.

I’ll be back soon!

Edgar Leandro Avelino

Associate Researcher, Political Observatory

18/12/2019 at 05h07, Dubai.