Too early to say Angola poll legitimate: monitors

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's parliamentary election has been largely free of violence and voting irregularities, but it is too early to declare the poll legitimate, independent election monitors said on Saturday.

The National Platform of Angolan Civil Society for Elections (PNASCAE) said it had verified six cases of election violence and violations of voting procedures since the polls opened on Friday morning.

"We need to see more of the process instead of just a part of it before we can say the election has been transparent and legitimate," Onesimo Setucula, the group's national coordinator, told a news conference in the capital Luanda.

The group, which is made up of non-government organizations, said its monitors had observed widespread delays at polling stations throughout the country, estimating that 19 percent opened late on Friday.

It also said the country's electoral commission had accredited too few of the group's observers for the poll, especially in Luanda province, where many of the voting delays occurred.

Angolan authorities extended voting into an unscheduled second day on Saturday after opposition parties and election observers condemned the poll as chaotic and disorganized. The main opposition UNITA party has challenged the legal validity of the election in Luanda province and asked that voting be redone.

(Reporting by Paul Simao; Editing by Janet Lawrence)