By Paul Simao
LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's ruling MPLA took aninsurmountable lead in a parliamentary election and is on trackto extend its 33-year rule despite opposition protests that thepoll was badly flawed.
With nearly 80 of the vote counted from the two-day poll,the MPLA is winning about 82 percent of the vote versus justover 10 percent for UNITA, the former rebel group and largestopposition party in the oil-rich nation.
Based on these results, the MPLA (Popular Movement for theLiberation of Angola), in power since independence fromPortugal, was leading in all 18 provinces. It was within reachof a coveted two-thirds of the 220-seat parliament, giving itthe power to change the constitution.
UNITA has contested the election due to what it describesas voting irregularities on September 5 and demanded that it beredone, a move that threatens to shatter the fragile politicalstability that has existed since the end of a 27-year civil warin 2002.
Before announcing the latest set of results, Angola'selectoral commission said it had rejected UNITA's challengebecause of a lack of proof of wrongdoing.
While admitting that the vote, the first in 16 years, hadbeen marred by organisational problems, European Union monitorssaid they had not endangered the electoral process and that nocases of violence were observed during the campaign or voting.
"The election marks a critical step for democracy despitethe organisation difficulties. The Angolan people participatedactively and voted freely," the EU mission said in a statementfollowing a news conference in Luanda.
Luisa Morgantini, head of the mission, stopped short ofdeclaring the election legitimate and said observers wouldcontinue to monitor vote counting and investigate complaints.The EU observer team will issue a full report in two months.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso calledthe election a step toward consolidating multi-party democracy.
The African Union's observer team said on Monday theelection had been free and fair, echoing the view of theSouthern African Development Community, which last weekenddeclared the poll credible, transparent and free.
An MPLA victory is likely to be welcomed by investors,particularly oil firms, who are generally comfortable with thegovernment's pro-business policies. Angola rivals Nigeria assub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer and its economy grewby 24 percent in 2007.
"It is not going to change the political landscape. Thesame government will carry on as before and it is veryfavourable to investors," said Indira Campos, a researcher withLondon-based think-tank Chatham House.
"FORCED TO VOTE"
The international community hopes Angola will defy its ownhistory and emerge from the election with political consensus.
But Richard Howitt, a British member of the EuropeanParliament, said he observed foreign voters being taken by businto restive Cabinda province and that Angolan soldiers hadbeen present at some polling stations.
Separatists have waged a long campaign for independence inCabinda. About half of Angola's oil is produced off its shore.
Authorities denied wrongdoing but said there wereadministrative glitches in some areas, particularly in Luandaprovince, home to 21 percent of the nation's 8.3 millionvoters.
An extra day of voting was organised on Saturday, but themove failed to satisfy UNITA (National Union for the TotalIndependence of Angola), which demanded a re-vote and vowed tochallenge the vote in the Constitutional Court.
"There are people that were instructed, who were forced tovote, (for) a particular party. I wonder how this election wasfree," UNITA leader Isaias Samakuva said in an interviewbroadcast on South Africa's SAFM radio on Monday.
Samakuva has ruled out any prospect the former rebel groupwould again take up arms against the government. The long warbetween the two sides killed half a million people.
In the last parliamentary election in 1992 the MPLA won 54percent to UNITA's 34 percent. UNITA rejected the results of aparallel presidential race and fighting resumed. The war endedin 2002 when rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Johannesburg andIngrid Melander in Brussels; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
