Following independence in 1975, the outbreak of the Angolan Civil War delayed the country's first post-independence elections until 1980. By then, the MPLA had created a one-party state. It organised indirect elections, in which voters elected carefully vetted candidates to electoral colleges, who in turn elected the National Assembly. The next elections were due to be held in 1983, but they were delayed until 1986 due to the ongoing war. When they were held, it was under the same indirect system.