Johannesburg/Luanda - Angolans go to the polls later this month in the first national election in the war-scarred country in 16 years. President Eduardo dos Santos' party is expected to win easily.

Dos Santos, 68, who has maintained a tight grip on power for 29 years, had repeatedly delayed parliamentary and presidential elections on the grounds that the country's ruined infrastructure made them unfeasible.

The elections to the 220-seat National Assembly on September 5 and 6, while deemed unlikely to dent the majority of dos Santos' MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), are seen as a dry run for presidential elections scheduled for next year.