From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: PORTUGAL: ANGOLAN OPPOSITION ASKED TO RESPECT ELECTION
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 02:23:06 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Africa, southern
Title: PORTUGAL: ANGOLAN OPPOSITION ASKED TO RESPECT ELECTION RESULTS


//attn editors: pls relate to ''angola: election result
suspense...''//

lisbon, oct 3 (ips) -- portugese politicians and media sources
are calling on rebel leader jonas savimbi and his 'unita' party
to respect the results of angola's elections, which appear to
give a clear victory to president jose eduardo dos santos and his
ruling 'mpla' party.

with two million of the almost 4.8 million votes counted, dos
santos leads savimbi by 58 to 32 percent.

in the general parliamentary elections, dos santos' marxist
mpla (movement for the people's liberation of angola) leads
savimbi's right-wing unita (union for the total independence of
angola) by a margin of 60 to 28 percent.

while the official results will not be known until oct. 9,
both official and independent projections give dos santos and
mpla a comfortable lead.

after 17 years of single-party mpla rule and 16 years of
bloody civil war, angolans peacefully went to the polls sep.
29-30, in accordance with peace accords signed between dos santos
and savimbi in may 1991.

during its civil war, angola was one of the final theatres of
cold war confrontation, with mpla supported by the former soviet
union and cuba, while unita recieved aid from the united states
and south africa.

while observers agree the elections were conducted orderly and
without violence, some are worried by a statements being
broadcast and repeated every hour over unita's radio station, in
which savimbi hints he will not recognize the election results.

''we have data and proofs that show the results are a fraud,''
savimbi said in a radio interview in luanda, monitored in lisbon
this saturday.

early analyses in portugal warned that it would be dificult
for savimbi to accept an mpla victory.

on saturday, fernando marques da costa, a representative of
portugal's socialist party, called for serenity and ''a rapid
acceptance of the results,'' so that both sides can ''prepare for
the role conferred upon them by democracy.''

most portugese politicians and business leaders have supported
or at least recognised dos santos, in a move that analysts term
''pragmatic.'' (more/ips)
----


portugal: angolan (2)

portugal is the largest international investor in angola and
that african nation's former colonial power.

the only portugese party to officially support unita, the
christian-democratic 'cds' party, has not commented on or
supported savimbi's accusations of fraud.

for her part, unita representative fatima roque, a professor
at lisbon university, said on saturday that the early election
results represent ''a great injustice.''

''how is it possible that only one third of the angolan people
understand what has happened in the past 17 years?'' she asked.

director of the lisbon-based daily ''publico,'' vicente jorge
silva, called the angolan elections ''an important lesson for the
world at a moment when democratic principles are suffering a
backsliding in under-developed nations.''

however, a failure to recognize the election results could
lead ''angola into the black hole of international indifference,
and for this reason, the politicians must heed the democratic
lesson their people have given them,'' silva said.
(end/ips/trd/so/md/ica/np/eli/92)
----
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african