The position is expressed in a letter signed by nine Angolan civic organizations, namely Friends of Angola (FoA), Press Observatory, SOS Habitat, Associação Construindo Comunidades (ACC), International Humanitarian Organization, Observatory for Social Cohesion and Justice, Jango Cultural, Handeka and MC-MUDEI and members of Angolan civil society.
The signatories express "deep concern over the obscure hiring of Indra by the Angolan National Electoral Commission (CNE) to provide electoral logistics services for the 2022 general elections".
According to the underwriters, "Indra's contracting process was not transparent and did not follow the basic contractual requirements of healthy competition. The CNE did not act independently or transparently".
The non-governmental organizations add that the CNE announced a "cosmetic public tender, received two proposals (SmartMatic and Indra), disqualified SmartMatic for unclear reasons and awarded the contract based on the only proposal it agreed to consider".
"All this in violation of the Angolan law that governs the negotiation process, whose article 125 determines that, whenever possible, the number of selected candidates must not be less than five", reads the document.
Indra has been challenged by political parties in the Angolan opposition and by Angolan civil society for allegedly "biasing the results" of the elections in Angola, held in 2008, 2012 and 2017.
The nine civic organizations refer that the Spanish company "has been the preferred partner" of the Angolan Government for the organization of the last three elections held in the country, "always contested and proven to be fraudulent".
"The Angolan courts are subject to the executive power and do not decide only in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola and the law", they affirm.
The next general elections in Angola are scheduled for the second half of August this year, as established by the Constitution, and Indra was the company chosen by the CNE, through a public tender, to provide the technological solution that encompasses provisional counting and counting. end of all votes registered in the general elections.
The referred organizations understand that, "once again", the Angolan Government hired Indra to "try to subvert the free choice of the Angolan people and undermine our democratic system again during the next elections scheduled for August".
The letter, entitled "Elections: Obscure Hiring of Indra Sistemas SA and the Future of Democracy in Angola", was sent to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Department of State of the United States of America (USA), the Congress of USA, the Prime Minister of Spain and the presidency of the African Union with the knowledge of various international organizations and entities.
"We strongly urge the US, the European Union, the African Union, non-governmental organizations and all peoples and governments of the world to support the efforts of the Angolan people to organize democratic, free, fair, auditable and transparent elections" , ask.
Indra guaranteed, in a statement sent to Lusa on Monday, that the electoral process in Angola will be conducted "in a professional and transparent manner".
CNE spokesman Lucas Quilundo told journalists last week that the departure of the other competing company, SmartMatic, was due to non-compliance with the rules of the contest and ruled out that Indra's choice compromises the fairness of the electoral process, despite the Angolan opposition contesting the option for allegations of fraud.
