"I have many reservations in relation to governmental announcements and the announcements of the President of the Republic himself, for the following reasons: neither dates have been put forward, nor the elements that will make all this possible," said the president of the PRA, Manuel Dias dos Santos, to the Lusa news agency.
And he added: "We are fully aware that the constitutional change will have to be made through the legislative branch. It is not the President who legislates, he can simply make the announcement and open the space for this to occur."
"It seems to me to be a very electioneering announcement, given all the circumstances and also the low popularity of the President himself. It's as if it were an oxygen balloon for him to breathe and for all of society to breathe," he continued.
For Manuel Dias dos Santos, the problem is that "the oxygen runs out and things don't have the sequence and dynamics that are expected.
Even so, he welcomed this step, namely the possibility for the Diaspora to vote in the elections in Angola.
However, he warned that it is necessary to know "how the participation [of Angolans living abroad] will be defined constitutionally, how the electoral cycle of the diaspora will be built, how many people it will elect, which people it will elect.
"There is a whole set of questions that people expect to see answered with a constitutional revision that includes the principle of equal political participation for all," he said.
The announcement of a punctual revision of the Constitution, with the objective, among others, of clarifying the mechanisms of political supervision, giving voting rights to residents abroad and eliminating the principle of gradualism in municipalities, was announced Tuesday by the President, João Lourenço, at the start of the work of the second ordinary session of the Council of Ministers.
"With this proposal for punctual revision of the Constitution we intend to preserve the stability of its fundamental principles, adapt some of its rules to the current reality, keeping it adjusted to the political, social and economic context, clarify the mechanisms of political oversight and improve the relationship between the sovereign bodies, as well as correct some shortcomings," he said.
