After Friday's general election, he is ready to add another five years to his reign. His party won a large majority and state media declared him president-elect despite opposition claims of fraud.

Though he shuns the spotlight, Dos Santos dominates Angolan politics, staying on top by shrewdly managing the country's powerful military and its fabulously wealthy oil industry.

But, after nearly 33 years in power, Dos Santos faces growing rumblings of discontent from the nation's youth.

He is Africa's second-longest-serving leader - just one month shy of the record held by Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

But he has never won a presidential vote. The 1992 presidential election was aborted before a re-run as civil war reignited and he remained in office.

In 2008 no presidential election was held and he simply continued in office.

He then rewrote the constitution to abolish direct presidential elections. Now, the leader of the party that wins the August 31 parliamentary vote automatically becomes the head of state.

But a Gallup poll in April found his approval rating by Angolans was the lowest of the leaders of the 34 nations surveyed, making him less liked than Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Swaziland's King Mswati III.

He is said to be a shrewd economic and political dealmaker with an instinct for political survival.