By Paul Simao
LUANDA (Reuters) - Voting in Angola's parliamentaryelection resumed on Saturday for an unscheduled second day amidcharges the poll had been chaotic and violated the Africannation's electoral law.
The election, Angola's first for 16 years, is largely arace between the ruling MPLA and opposition UNITA party. It hasbeen keenly watched by the international community because ofcontroversy marring recent African polls and Angola's emergenceas a major oil producer.
Hopes the poll would go smoothly foundered on Friday whenscores of polling stations failed to open on time and othersdid so hours late, preventing many residents from voting inLuanda province, home to more than 20 percent of Angola's 8.3million registered voters.
UNITA challenged the legitimacy of the vote in Luandaprovince at the country's Constitutional Court.
"We had no choice but to file the challenge. Conditions didnot exist for the election in Luanda (province) yesterday andthey still do not exist today," UNITA spokesman Adalberto daCosta told Reuters.
The government has denied any electoral wrongdoing.
Angola's electoral commission extended the voting intoSaturday as a result of the problems. A spokesman for thecommission said voting began at 320 polling stations onSaturday morning and was expected to be completed by 7 p.m.(1800 GMT).
Problems with voter registration lists were cited as themain cause of the delays, which were concentrated in Luandaprovince.
International observers expressed concern at the failure toprovide the lists.
"The law was broken because the electoral registration wasnot distributed," Luisa Morgantini, who is leading a 120-memberEU team, told Reuters. "We cannot say the process was doneaccording to the rules."
Morgantini said Angola's election officials should considermeeting with international observers to discuss the problems.
DEMAND FOR NEW POLL
UNITA and other opposition parties have demanded that thepoll be held again. UNITA leader Isaias Samakuva described theprocess on Friday as a "mess" and it was not clear whether thevoting extension would mollify his party.
Tensions between UNITA (National Union for the TotalIndependence of Angola) and the MPLA (Popular Movement for theLiberation of Angola) have simmered since the former rebelgroup ended its 27-year war against the state in 2002.
In the run-up to the poll, UNITA accused the MPLA of usingstate funds for its campaign and the state-run media topublicise its cause. It also said its supporters had beenharassed, a charge backed by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
The MPLA, which has governed the country since independencefrom Portugal in 1975, is widely expected to win the election.The party had held 129 of 220 parliamentary seats, with theremainder controlled by UNITA and a handful of smaller parties.
Angola's government has touted the poll as a showcase forits recovery from the civil war and hopes that it will spurfurther foreign investment. Angola rivals Nigeria assub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producer.
Angolans last voted in 1992 in joint parliamentary andpresidential elections. Then, the presidential race was abortedafter UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi withdrew, accusing MPLA leaderJose Eduardo dos Santos of cheating his way to victory.
Savimbi then led his supporters back into the bush wherethe rebel group resumed its war against the government. Anestimated half a million people died in the conflict, whichended after Savimbi was killed in an ambush in 2002.
