The elections were held about 18 days ago - if you missed my first post on election you can find it
here. People were nervous about it and some people elected to leave the country or postpone their trip back "just in case". Other companies did 3 hour long worst case scenario exercises that included information on what to pack in your bag (i.e. don't bring your entire house to the airport). We were given some basic communication information and the day off from work. Everyone has to have the option to vote in their assigned location so most business close to allow for that. We had no driver and were told to stay in the apartment.
In the days running up to the election the propaganda increased - thousands of flags flying, posters everywhere and to our surprise low flying planes dropping leaflets on the city. We were told to have some extra food and water just in case, so we went to do that on Saturday before the Wednesday election. I expected to find empty shelves (like a hurricane stock up) but nope - nobody seemed to be buying water, milk etc. I did hear the day before there was a lot of water purchases but no empty shelves. The day of the election was eerily quiet in the streets, no traffic, no work...nothing. We joined some other expats for gumbo, drinks and poker. Jason and I swept the poker so we brought home some extra cash just in case. The day ended with no election drama. Preliminary results were announced the next day with the ruling party (MPLA) taking 64% of the vote - this was contested by the other parties but nothing has seemed to come of that. Official results are announced last week and they mirrored the preliminary results. We get the impression there was some hint of fraud (as there has been in the past) but our driver just told us it is what is expected. The corruption runs deep here but they are still too fresh from war to want another uprising. Ten years from now I expect we will see some civil unrest if things don't change.
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| Election Day in the City - ghost town! |
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| Election propaganda being dropped from low flying planes |
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| Found a piece of propaganda on our way to dinner after the plane drop |
We have had a very quiet few weeks, a lot of expats went home to avoid elections and then got caught in the Harvey mess and couldn't get back (the only direct flight is from Houston). We have seen a few movies, more then we typically saw at home since it is one of the few things to do here. We head out on Friday for a week of beach relaxation in Mozambique (that is on the east coast of Africa just above South Africa). I am interested to see Mozambique since they are similar to Angola (former Portuguese colony with a bloody civil war) but they have seemed to recover faster and have some tourism. I got our visas in advance here in Luanda just in case - you are supposed to be able to get them at the airport but I have read some horror stories of being turned away. The visa process here was surprisingly quick (3 business day) and I got to do the transaction in mostly Portuguese which is rewarding. Stay turned of pictures of the beautiful beaches of Mozambique.
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| We do have a piece of home now- we can watch NFL and College Football! We had to get 2 season passes but well worth the cost and the coverage and speed is great so far. |
