Angola Sets Date for Parliamentary Elections

Angola has set the date for its parliamentary elections, August 31. The news came from a statement issued by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' office that said the date was decided on after a meeting of the Council of the Republic.

The Council is an advisory board made up of senior government officials, opposition leaders, and judges.

Presidential elections were expected to be held but the new constitution virtually makes the everyday Angolan’s opinion on who would be best to run the country obsolete. The new constitution makes it so the president is no longer directly elected by the people in a separate poll. Instead, the first stage of voting has each party making a list of candidates for parliament, the top name on the list is typically the party leader. Once the voters cast their ballots the name on the party's list with the most votes becomes president. So in technical terms dos Santos is a candidate for parliament, or is expected to be once they announce the lists.