The ruling party of Angola is expected to win the country's general election, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) said on Thursday.

With 97% of votes counted, CNE put the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) on 51.7% of the vote.

The opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was on 44.5%. It claims the results were unreliable and that its tally showed it was in the lead.

The election was seen as the most tightly-contested in decades.

UNITA and the MPLA have been rivals since before independence and have fought a civil war intermittently for over 25 years, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

Angola elections: What you need to know

The former Marxist MPLA has been in power since Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

It has been led by incumbent President Joao Lourenco for the last five years. Lourenco is a former general who promised a new era for Angola when he was first elected in 2017. He has been credited with some economic reforms aimed at attracting foreign investors and tackling corruption.

The main opposition party UNITA is headed by Adalberto Costa Junior. The 60-year-old is popular among the young, and has announced plans to fight poverty and unemployment.

Around 60% of the voters are under 25, and are voting for the first time. 

Six other parties were also running in the elections. Multi-party polls were first introduced in 1992.

Angola's former long-term ruler, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, died in a hospital in the Spanish city of Barcelona last month.

He was praised for his work in ending the violence that left half a million people dead, as well as his peaceful withdrawal from power in 2017 after 38 years of strongman rule.

However, his detractors point to the country's vast oil wealth that went largely to enriching himself and his family.

Poverty and unemployment key election issues

Angola is Africa's second biggest oil producer. However, the oil wealth has not reached most sections of society, and has in turn increased the cost of living.

"School is awful. Health system is awful. They get richer, and we suffer," 28-year-old voter Severano Manuel told AFP news agency.

About half of the country lives in poverty, with a high rate of youth unemployment. Even in capital city Luanda with its skyscrapers, jobless people take up petty work to earn a living.

"Especially in the cities where most young people reside, their lives haven’t changed. The economy went through five years of recession, and the main opposition candidate hopes the anger on the economic situation will get him more votes," said DW correspondent Adrian Kriesch.

As the country headed to elections, experts also raised concerns about voter fraud. An activist monitoring group, Mudei Movement, took pictures of results sheets at as many polling stations as possible, fearing the fraud that marred past polls.

The election commission said there had been no disturbances that could hamper the process.

tg,jcg/rt (AFP, Reuters)