“Portugal respects and complies with the public health rules imposed by each State in the exercise of its sovereignty. No alternative is foreseen to the face-to-face vote that will take place in the polling stations set up in the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Portuguese external network ”, said the MNE in a note sent to Lusa.
Portuguese voters registered in the Luanda census will be able to vote, in person, on 23 and 24 January, at the premises of the Portuguese consulate general in Luanda (Avenida de Portugal, 50), while those registered in the provinces within the jurisdiction of the consulate general of Portugal in Benguela, vote at the facilities at Largo do Pioneiro, 21, in Benguela.
It is also contemplated the early voting abroad, between 12 and 14 January, for voters who are registered in Portugal, but who are transiently displaced in Angola due to imperative due to their professional, academic or other functions provided for in the law, and cannot do in national territory.
In the previous presidential elections, which took place on January 24, 2016, less than a thousand voters in Angola (641) and Benguela (215) were registered in Angola.
The MNE underlined that the right to vote in the election of the President of the Republic "is exercised in person and directly by the voters", which stems from the Electoral Law that is based on the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and does not contemplate other forms of participation in the suffrage.
Angola obliges citizens who have been abroad to comply with home quarantine for a minimum period of seven days, to prevent the disease, with January being a month of return for many Portuguese who have gone to their country to spend the Christmas season.
Interprovincial trips to and from Luanda also require the presentation of a serological test, with a negative result, valid for seven days.
Presidential elections are scheduled for January 24 and this is the 10th time that the Portuguese have been called to choose the President of the Republic in democracy, since 1976.
Seven candidates are running for election: Marisa Matias (supported by the Left Block), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (PSD and CDS-PP) Tiago Mayan Gonçalves (Liberal Initiative), André Ventura (Chega), Vitorino Silva, better known as Tino de Rans , João Ferreira (PCP and PEV) and PS activist Ana Gomes (PAN and Livre).
