The President of Angola, João Lourenço, reelected on August 24, decreed for Thursday a day off in all the national territory to allow Angolans to "commemorate with dignity" his inauguration.

Workers working in shifts are excluded from this tolerance, reads the presidential decree published today.

In the diploma, João Lourenço recalls that "the Angolan people exercised with civism and patriotism (...) their constitutionally consecrated right to vote" in the August 24 elections.

"Having been expressed throughout the country, by the different strata of our society, the will to commemorate in a dignified manner this very singular act," that is, the inauguration of the head of state, the President decrees that it will be "observed tolerance of time off throughout the national territory, on September 15, 2022."

According to the final tabulation minutes of the August 24 general elections, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and its candidate, outgoing President João Lourenço, won with 51,17% of the votes, followed by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), with 43,95%.

With these results, the MPLA elected 124 deputies and UNITA 90 deputies, almost double the 2017 elections.

UNITA and the Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola - Coligação Eleitoral (CASA-CE), which did not elect any deputies, contested the results, but the Constitutional Court dismissed the appeals and validated, last week, the definitive election results.

João Lourenço, re-elected President of Angola for the next five years, takes office on Thursday and then the elected deputies follow. (Lusa)