Liberty Chiaka addressed this Wednesday, at a press conference in Luanda, some initiatives of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) as well as her concerns about the electoral act, stressing that "the will of a people".
"We must respect the will of the Angolans, the alternation of power will happen, the MPLA will not be able to celebrate 100 years in power", considered the party leader, questioning: "but why can't we have free, fair elections for the first time? and transparent?"
Liberty Chiaka also stated that "the Angolan people are peaceful and know what they want, the problem lies with the leadership", appealing for a credible policy that must be done with elevation and democratic convictions.
"Whoever does not have democratic convictions starts a political dispute with an all-or-nothing perspective, it cannot be a matter of life and death", he stressed, adding that "there is an Angola after 2022" that will continue with or without the MPLA or UNITA.
"I want to believe that Angolans will participate in these elections in an orderly and peaceful way, like a party", he insisted, reaffirming that the problem lies with the politicians, pointing out the political leaders "who have been in power for 46 years and are worried about the real possibility of lose this power".
"We are going to win the elections, it is the MPLA that wants to distort the results, if it is convinced that it will win, why resort to expedients? It is because they know that it will not win", said the party leader.
He also said that UNITA produced a book with evidence on electoral fraud in 2008 and, in 2012 and 2017, it presented complaints to the Attorney General's Office, comparing the electoral act in Angola with the recent elections in Portugal, in which "nobody spoke of the electoral commission".
"And why? Because the referee cannot be a player", he added, still speaking of the responsibility of UNITA that "calls for a posture of much moderation".
The UNITA deputy also considered that the decision to increase the national minimum wage, for the private sector, by 50 percent is "eminently electoral" and served "to pamper people", stressing that most people "do not live on their own salary, survives".
This week, Angolan Catholic bishops warned of what they consider to be a "dangerous void of dialogue" between "rulers and ruled" and between party leaders, which "raises radicalism and intolerance" in a context of "frightening" poverty.
At the opening of the first ordained plenary assembly of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), the organization's president, José Manuel Imbamba, stated that there is, in Angola, an "evident degradation of the habits and customs of social behavior, attitudes and of civility" and there is "a dangerous void between the rulers and the ruled, between the party leaders and between the various civic actors".
The Angolan Catholic bishops also defended "truth, justice and transparency" in the preparation of the general elections, scheduled for next August, and urged all citizens to participate in the process with "a high sense of responsibility" and to "avoid absenteeism".
