LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's ruling MPLA party secured a...

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's ruling MPLA party secured a landslide parliamentary election victory on Wednesday, setting the stage for changes that critics fear could make the presidency even more powerful and weaken other institutions.

The MPLA, which has ruled the oil-rich country since independence from Portugal in 1975 and has embraced pro-business policies after abandoning Marxism in the early 1990s, crushed a divided and under-funded opposition in the two-day poll.

It took nearly 82 percent of the vote based on provisional final results released on Wednesday, and defeated the opposition in all 18 provinces. It puts the MPLA on track to win at least 170 of 220 seats in parliament -- nearly 80 percent of seats.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and other senior MPLA officials had campaigned hard to win the two-thirds majority needed to alter the country's constitution. They have not specified what changes are in the works.

"The opposition fears that an authoritarian presidency could be created and that the rule of law will not be respected," said Fernando Macedo, a law professor and political analyst at Luanda's Lusiada University.

Macedo said that an MPLA-dominated parliament would not be able to tamper easily with certain rights enshrined in the constitution, including a guarantee that Angola would have a multi-party democracy and independent judiciary.

OPPOSITION COLLAPSE

But the ruling party could be emboldened by the virtual collapse of the largest opposition group, UNITA, which won just over 10 percent of the vote. The former rebel group took 34 percent in the last elections in 1992.

MPLA spokesman Norberto dos Santos told reporters that senior UNITA officials would be removed from ministries, and other important government posts after the election.

"That's over," he said, referring to a 1994 deal that led to the incorporation of four UNITA ministers in the government. Other UNITA officials became vice-ministers, provincial governors and ambassadors under that arrangement.

But the spokesman rejected any suggestion that Angola would slide toward authoritarianism following the election.

The consolidation of the MPLA's power is unlikely to rattle investors, who are generally comfortable with its pro-business direction and the investment-friendly climate.

Angola has become one of the world's frontier market darlings and is keen to lure more foreign investment into its booming oil and diamond sectors as well as other neglected areas, including agriculture.

UNITA had complained that it faced a serious disadvantage in the election campaign because of the MPLA's access to funds and its control of the major television, radio and other media.

U.S. and European election observers agreed there was hardly a level playing field and the poll was marked by irregularities, but they also said it represented a step in the right direction for a country whose 27-year civil war ended only in 2002.

The international community also breathed a sigh of relief that Angola was set to emerge from the ordeal without the turmoil that marred other polls in Africa in the past year.

Angola's last election 16 years ago ended in disaster when UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi withdrew from the second round of the presidential race and returned to the bush after accusing Dos Santos of cheating his way to victory.

Half a million people died before the conflict ended with the UNITA leader's death in an ambush in February 2002.

Angola rivals Nigeria as sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer and is an emerging diamond producer on the continent. Foreign firms have invested billions in Angola's oil sector and the economy grew by 24 percent in 2007.

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