Rating those who govern: three branches, three grades

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Governance

Rating those who
govern: three branches, three grades

Institutional approval disaggregated by province, age and education level. Angola in Afrobarometer Round 10: the president gets 41%, the government 28%, the parliament 31%.

Autor: David Boio  ·  14 min read

Working Paper
WHAT ANGOLANS THINK

GOVERNANCE

Rating those who
govern: three branches, three grades

Three institutions, three grades — all failing

In Afrobarometer Round 10, Angolans were asked how much they approve of the performance of the president, the government (council of ministers) and the national assembly. The results: 41% approve of the president's performance, 28% approve of the government, and 31% approve of the National Assembly. None of the three institutions reaches the 50% approval threshold.

Provincial and generational disaggregation

Presidential approval varies significantly by province: it reaches 58% in Zaire and 54% in Cabinda, but falls to 28% in Huíla and 26% in Bié. Among young people between 18 and 35, presidential approval is 33% — 12 percentage points below the national average.

The gap between presidential and governmental approval (41% vs 28%) is also notable. It suggests that many Angolans separate their evaluation of the head of state from their assessment of the executive team — a pattern seen in other presidential systems in Africa where personalised politics allows leaders to partially decouple their personal standing from government performance.