The opposition demands the President of the Republic not to enact the Basic Law for General Elections

Opposition political parties today demanded the President of the Republic not to issue the Basic Law on the General Elections, which was approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday, as this would jeopardize the peace, political stability and credibility of Angola.

At a press conference, the day after the vote in Parliament, in which the MPLA approved this law alone, the opposition parties came out publicly to ask João Lourenço, in the name of peace, political stability, true democracy and the credibility of Angola in the world, not to pass this law.

UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS and independent deputies want the head of state “to return this law to Parliament, as he did with the Penal Code, in order to cleanse it of everything that affects the transparency of elections.”

In a political statement issued by the parties UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS and deputies not represented in parliamentary groups, they considered that João Lourenço should be head of state and not head of his party, as a democratic principle of “correction of error”.

The opposition warns, “If you do not do this, we will understand that you are in harmony with your party,” stressing that “the current government is already rejected because it has lost its political and moral legitimacy to continue running a country.”

The subject of contention, principally, is the MPLA’s refusal to accept UNITA’s proposal for a law to ensure that election results are tabulated at the municipal level.

“There are only two options for 2022: on the one hand Angola, on the other hand the regime. And on the Angolan side will be the patriots, who believe in true democracy and are subject to popular sovereignty. Whoever believes that the Republic of Angola is not based on the will of the regime, but on the will of the Angolan people, as enshrined in Article One of the Constitution,” the document stated.

The declaration presents the main proposals they made to improve the transparency of the elections and which were rejected by the MPLA.

Among the rejected proposals are those that ensure the uniqueness of voting in real time through biometric identification of the voter, to reduce and control early voting and safely avoid multiple voting.

The proposal of the National Elections Commission to publish the results obtained at each polling station on its website, and to keep all documents for five years, was also rejected.

“The proposal to elect the President of the National Electoral Council from among its peers, and the proposal for the control of ballot papers and polling stations by the National Electoral Council and not by the Security Council agents of the President of the Republic, as is the case now. This practice was rejected by the MPLA as well,” the document explains. .

According to the document, mechanisms to monitor transparency and electoral truth have been suppressed or rejected.

“Elements disturbing the electoral reality were introduced by the presence of early polling stations with 750 voters, without proper oversight mechanisms,” the document stated.