Angola's governing party wins divisive election extending long rule

FILE PHOTO: Angolan President Joao Lourenco attends a bilateral business forum in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

LISBON (Reuters) -Angola's electoral commission on Monday declared the ruling MPLA, in power for nearly five decades since independence, the winner of last week's national election, handing President Joao Lourenco a second term amid concerns about possible fraud.

The commission gave the ex-Marxist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) a 51.17% majority after all votes were counted. Its longtime opponent, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, got 43.95%, its best result ever.