Luanda – The party that has ruled the country since 11 November 1975, the MPLA re-emerge in the 2022 general elections with candidate João Lourenço as head of the list.
Here is the party's history:
The party was founded on December 10, 1956, in Luanda, by a group of Angolan patriots, when it released the manifesto of the Broad Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which called for the constitution, throughout the country, of many organisations independent of each other, so that they could better resist and elude the surveillance of the occupying colonial forces of repression.
In this line of action, the PLUAA (Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola), the MIA (Movement for the Independence of Angola), the MINA (Movement for the National Independence of Angola) and the PCA (embryo of the ephemeral Communist Party of Angola), which, when merged, gave rise to the MPLA.
This movement quickly galvanized the people to fight against colonialism, becoming the decisive instrument for the satisfaction of aspirations for independence, peace and social progress.
With the proclamation, on November 11, 1975, of National Independence by the MPLA, led by the country's first President, António Agostinho Neto, Portuguese colonialism was put to an end.
Under the leadership of this political party, the process of rebuilding the country began to satisfy the interests and basic needs of the Angolan people. This effort was conditioned by the war, which ravaged the country, imposed from inside and outside.
Ideological guidance
The ideology of the MPLA is based on democratic socialism, which defends social justice, humanism, freedom, equality and solidarity.
It pragmatically applies the universal values of a modern and dynamic democracy, compatible with socio-cultural values and with the legitimate aspirations of Angolans, always aiming at human development, in its multiple dimensions.
List of the presidents
Ilídio Machado (1956-1959)
Mario Pinto de Andrade (1959-1962)
Agostinho Neto (1962-1979)
José Eduardo dos Santos (1979-2017)
João Lourenço (since 2017)
Participation in elections and percentage won
1992 (53.74% of votes, 129 elected MPs).
2008 (81.64% of votes, 191 elected MPs).
2012 (71.84% of votes, 175 elected MPs).
2017 (61.08% of votes, 150 elected MPs).
