"I think it is essential that the election of the President of the Republic is carried out directly. It would allow more figures outside the political parties to emerge to compete for power", argues the former secretary of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Luanda.
Nelito Ekuikui, whose work during the campaign for the 2022 elections resulted in an unprecedented victory over the party in power since independence, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), considers that the direct election of the President would also allow the emergence of platforms electoral votes for this election.
"The way in which the President of the Republic is elected, through a party list, limits the exercise of political power in Angola. The exercise of political power is limited to parties. It means that to be President you have to be a member of a party. And not everyone sees themselves in the parties. It is essential that this review is carried out", he explains.
Since the new Constitution, tailored to former president José Eduardo dos Santos, came into force, presidential elections have not been held.
The head of state and the vice-president – a position created in the 2010 review – are the first two names on the list of the party with the most votes in the national circle for the election of parliament.
Nelito Ekuikui also states that it is necessary to discuss the way in which deputies are elected.
"Deputies are elected on a closed list. The voter does not know who the deputy he is electing is (...) So, the lists for the election of the deputy must also be open" because, he emphasizes, "deputies have to having the opportunity to campaign, to make yourself known. This adds more value to the party itself".
"We are limiting the exercise of political power by small groups that do not represent the expression of Angola as a whole. As is natural and fair to assume that, if I had to say here that the political exercise of Angola is intended only for political parties , it would be unfair", he concludes.
With regard to the separation of powers, namely the independence of the judiciary, Nelito Ekuikui highlights that UNITA "has carried out a pedagogical process of educating those in the Government to let go of the judiciary".
The Constitutional Court "is clearly gagged by political power".
"UNITA is also creating a history of processes that are there and will go down in history and whatever time it takes, I think it will be recovered one day. These processes will be recovered, especially the accusations that weigh on the President of the Republic [João Lourenço], of promoting several deaths that we can consider some genocides", citing as an example the repression of demonstrations in Lunda Norte and Bailundo.
"These do not prescribe", he considers.
