José Eduardo dos Santos is the president of Angola. He became president in 1979, succeeding the founding president Agostinho Neto. He was seen as rather a strongman, but received a large share of the vote a multi-party election in 1992. He did not quite receive a majority; but the UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi withdrew from the race, leaving him technically interim president.

He announced in 2001 that he will step down at the next presidential election, assuming that peace can be arrived at.