Item 13 on the agenda for the third ordinary plenary meeting of the 5th legislative session of the IV legislature of the National Assembly was proposed by the parliamentary group of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), at the conference of the presidents of the five political parties that make up the parliament.
At the end of the meeting, in statements to the press, MPLA parliamentary leader Virgílio de Fontes Pereira said that the proposal to include this item on the agenda is an initiative of the majority party with the aim of "giving a little more security to the acts of the National Electoral Commission [CNE], to contribute to the transparency of the entire process, in the sense that the CNE actors have their mandate duly regulated".
"It is clear that the mandate of the current commissioners is based on the fact that they cease with the taking of office of the new commissioners, but that does not mean that, in our opinion, we have to take precautions to make the situation of the commissioners clear, whether they are from the MPLA or from any other party, in such a way that all parliamentary groups and parliamentary representations were consensual in approving our proposal", he stressed.
Angola will hold general elections in the second half of August this year, and the electoral preparation process is currently underway.
Virgílio de Fontes Pereira pointed out that, although the other parliamentary groups have presented some other issues related to the functioning and organization of the CNE and even the provincial commissioners, in terms of replacement or correction of names, among others, "the focus of the proposal has to do with the renewal of the mandate of the commissioners of the CNE in the terms in which they are defined in the law".
"And we think that this will contribute to greater stability, especially at a time when the CNE will have great work pressure, it is already having in the context of the preparation of the elections and this environment can also facilitate the performance of the commissioners themselves, be they of which party they are", he stressed.
In turn, the deputy of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Sakaita Savimbi, said that on the point proposed by the MPLA, he agreed with the need to renew the mandates of CNE members.
"The CNE is already working and there is a need to do so and we agree with this initiative", said the deputy from the largest opposition party.
Sakaita Savimbi stressed that the CNE topic on the agenda is simply about substitutions, however, other issues related to the commissioners' mandate were raised at the meeting.
"We have commissioners who have been in the CNE since 2012, others in 2017, and many with expired terms, there is a need to renew their mandate so that they exercise their function now for these elections," he added.
In the same line of thought, the parliamentary representations of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), Lucas Ngonda, and the Social Renewal Party (PRS), Manuel Muxito, agreed with the inclusion of the point on the renewal of mandates.
"On the FNLA side, we replaced commissioners a while ago, but not all of them took office, we have municipal commissioners who have not yet taken office, at the moment the CNE has been doing fieldwork and cannot find the FNLA representatives", complained Lucas Ngonda.
"The PRS addressed the issue of the members of the CNE in which, in the past, it asked for the replacement of those who had already expired their terms of office and as such the processes were filed and of these processes a part was dealt with and a part is to be dealt with. part that remains to be dealt with [we ask] so that at the meeting on the 24th there is space for them to be inserted", said Manuel Muxito.
The agenda for the 24th is essentially made up of points for global final votes, including the Draft Law on Insurance and Reinsurance Activity and the Draft Law approving the Statute of the Recovery or Insolvency Administrator, and on issues related to to international treaties.
