Welcome to this week’s Angola Briefing, Zitamar News’s weekly examination of the political, economic and business developments shaping Angola.
This week, Fernando Lima, Zitamar’s editor-at-large, was joined by José Gama, journalist and political analyst, and Cláudio Silva, entrepreneur and commentator, for a discussion dominated by the approaching 2027 elections.
Our main focus was the MPLA's decision to uphold the exclusion of Higino Carneiro from its leadership contest. While both guests expect João Lourenço to secure another term as party president, they disagreed over his prospects of exercising power once a successor takes office as Angola's head of state.
Gama compared Lourenço's ambition to an Iran-style arrangement in which a supreme leader exercises authority above the government, rather than the rotation of offices between Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev in Russia
The discussion also examined the political and fiscal consequences of Angola's growing fuel subsidy bill, the FNLA's latest leadership dispute and the continuing failure to introduce municipal elections.
Watch the Angola Briefing and subscribe for independent reporting and expert analysis of the country's political economy.
Get full access to the write-up of yesterday's briefing and our daily news summaries and analysis by becoming a subscriber to the Angola Briefing.
Read on below to understand how:
- Lourenço may win the MPLA leadership, but can he control his successor?
- Angola's fuel subsidy bill more than doubles, leaving reforms hostage to elections
- FNLA's leadership crisis exposes the decline of a historic political movement
- Angola's first municipal elections remain out of reach
LEADER: Lourenço may win the MPLA leadership, but can he control his successor?
The MPLA's decision to uphold the exclusion of Higino Carneiro from its leadership election has reinforced expectations that President João Lourenço will face no serious challenge at the ruling party's congress in December, despite the fact he cannot run for president of the country in next year's elections. But the latest developments play into the question on many observers' lips: an Lourenço retain control of Angola's political system once he is no longer head of state?
