The position was expressed on Tuesday by the leader of UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, stressing that the proposal constitutes "an unprecedented evolution" in the thinking of João Lourenço, since the idea of revision, recently presented by the party had been rejected on the grounds that the country had one of the best constitutions in the world.
Adalberto Costa Júnior recalled that UNITA proposed to society and to the President of the Republic, in writing, the realization of a deep reform of the State, through a set of essential initiatives for the revision of the Constitution, the Electoral Law, the consolidation of national reconciliation, the institutionalization of municipal power and the reorganization of judicial and customary power.
"UNITA received with surprise the pronouncement of the President of the Republic in relation to the revision of the Constitution, as it constitutes an unprecedented evolution in his thinking, if we take into consideration that a short time ago the idea of such a revision presented by UNITA had been discarded by him on the grounds that Angola has one of the best constitutions in the world," said the leader of the largest opposition party.
For UNITA, in a pre-election phase "the revision of the Constitution may raise suspicions, and may have as a goal the non-holding of the 2022 general elections, unless it aims at triggering a broad national consensus on issues that concern society in general".
According to the politician, at this moment there is no institutional dialogue that confirms this, "quite the contrary".
For Adalberto Costa Júnior, a constitutional revision based on a broad national dialogue should embrace, among other issues, the direct election of the President of the Republic, contrary to the current indirect model through the legislative, with the party heading the list.
The excessive powers of the President of the Republic in the current Constitution, the alteration of the national symbols, the resumption of the sovereignty of the National Assembly, the prohibition of accumulation of functions of provincial governors, municipal and communal administrators with party functions, the introduction of the parity composition in the National Electoral Commission, are also issues that should be reviewed, pointed out the UNITA leader.
"A revision outside this scope would configure a true constitutional coup - it would not be the first - that aims to maintain the political power established 45 years ago", said the president of UNITA, indicating as aspects of concern this pronouncement of João Lourenço, at a time "in which the whole society notes attacks to the institutes of democracy, with absolute censorship to the acts and the pronouncements of the political parties in opposition, with special incidence to UNITA".
The censorship of the press conferences of the parliamentary groups of the opposition parties by the public media is another negative aspect, continued the leader of UNITA, stressing that the head of state pronounced in a period in which "acts of violence against citizens are repeated, in which there is a lack of independence of the judiciary.
"The executive has transferred the administrative executions of the judicial and legislative bodies to its tutelage, which undermines the separation of powers and the democratic state. It is the Ministry of Finance that is executing the budgets of the National Assembly and the organs of the judiciary, and for these reasons the parliamentary groups have no budgets to be able to carry out the oversight of the acts of governance for more than a year," he said.
Adalberto Costa Júnior underlined that the proposed revision of the Constitution comes without dialogue and without the search for consensus with society.
According to the UNITA leader, it would be important that the President of the Executive Branch had also pronounced himself on other pressing issues, such as the drought that affects the south of Angola and the vaccination program against covid-19, "since it directly touches the lives of Angolans".
The President announced the need for a punctual revision of the Constitution of the Republic, namely regarding a clarification of the institutional relationship model between the President of the Republic and the National Assembly in relation to political oversight.
João Lourenço, who was speaking at the opening of the second ordinary session of the Council of Ministers, also pointed out as issues to be reviewed the right to vote abroad, the elimination of gradualism in the Constitution, the main point of divergence between the State and the opposition parties, for the holding of the first local elections, the affirmation of the central bank as an independent entity and the establishment of a fixed period for holding general elections.
