This chapter examines the MPLA’s increasingly nervous hegemony over Angolan society. It explores the challenges and costs associated with upholding the MPLA’s historical legitimacy amidst internal and external crises, exacerbated by the transition of power from José Eduardo dos Santos to João Lourenço. The chapter analyzes the defining features of President João Lourenço’s first term, including the political bicephaly that characterized its outset, the anticorruption crusade and its limitations, as well as transformations within the party’s internal structures. By assessing the changes and continuities that have unfolded within both the party and the state since 2017, the analysis argues that, despite the growing concentration of power in the hands of the president, the MPLA as party continues to serve as a significant source of political legitimacy. The article also shows that the party is the corner stone of the personalization of power and of the exercise of authoritarian power.