The first local elections in the country are scheduled to take place this year, but so far the municipal legislative package needed to implement them has not been adopted in full, with five legislative proposals remaining.
In a meeting held this Monday with the parliamentary group, the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Adalberto da Costa Júnior, elected as a priority the approval of the said electoral legislative package, with the first quarter of this year as the target.
Adalberto da Costa Júnior considered that there was sufficient time to approve the municipal legislative package and to carry out a census of citizens.
"At the level of the parliamentary group we need to speed up the preparation of the missing laws, there are not that many, and everything must be done so that by March we have the whole municipal legislative package voted on", he highlighted, reiterating "the need for these appointments to be fulfilled" so that "with political will, we can fulfil this wish".
In statements to the press on the fringes of the meeting, the leader of the parliamentary group of the largest opposition party, Liberty Chiaka, said that the members of that political force would propose holding bilateral meetings with other parties.
"Today we are going to formalize an invitation to the parliamentary group of MPLA [Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, in power] of CASA-CE (Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola - Coigação Eleitoral), to the representatives of PRS (Partido de Renovação Social) and FNLA (Frente de Libertação Nacional de Angola), in order to establish a common agenda", he specified.
For Liberty Chiaka, if there was consensus and unanimity, in 2015, for the approval of the Task Plan for the general elections, held in 2017, and municipal elections, scheduled for 2020, the same direction is needed to approve the institutional calendar for municipalities.
"This is the great challenge that remains for us. We want to believe that there will be receptivity, in fact, during the hearing that was granted by the President of the National Assembly to the leadership of the UNITA parliamentary group, on 14 January, expressing our concern, he showed his availability", he said.
Asked if the first quarter will be enough time to overcome the fracturing issues in the draft law, namely the issue of gradualism, Liberty Chiaka said he wants to believe in "political goodwill and, above all, the determination of the MPLA parliamentary group" to overcome differences.
He said "we are all imbued with the sense of realising citizenship, of realising the national will, which cannot be confused with that of a political party and we want to believe that the MPLA, in particular its parliamentary group, will have enough political will to embrace a national plan".
The government in its bill foresees the gradual implementation of municipalities in the country, but opposition parties and civil society representatives advocate simultaneous implementation in the 164 municipalities that make up the country.
The National Assembly has already passed the Organic Law on Municipal Elections, the Organic Law on the Organisation and Functioning of Local Authorities, the Law on Administrative Guardianship of Local Authorities and the Law on Local Government Bases.
