"Where did the FPU put a question to the TC? We didn't go to the Constitutional Court to put anything at all, it's strange that the TC pronounces itself on a non-issue. The FPU never went to the TC to say that 'I am the FPU' and the FPU never went anywhere to say that 'I am the FPU and I'm going to do this or that'", Filomeno Vieira Lopes told Lusa.
"The FPU never ran! Now, we can all do politics, a citizen can do politics", he stressed.
According to the leader of the BD, who together with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the political project PRA JA-Servir Angola make up the FPU, the TC's communication "only surprises for its unconstitutional character".
"A citizen or a group of citizens does not need to go to court to ask to do politics, the Constitution of the Republic of Angola allows a citizen or a group of citizens to do politics, they do not need any authorization, authorization is given constitutionally", stressed.
The director of the political parties office at the Constitutional Court said this Monday that the FPU, a platform that brings together opposition parties and movements, cannot run for election or carry out party political acts.
According to Mauro Alexandre, who was speaking on the sidelines of a training seminar for media professionals on the electoral process, in the context of the general elections scheduled for August, the FPU does not meet the legal requirements to present a candidacy, as it is not a legal entity. nor a coalition, since for that purpose it would have to be noted (recognized) by the TC.
"Under the terms of the Constitution and the law, only political parties and coalitions that are legally constituted and that are registered with the Constitutional Court can apply for general elections", said the jurist and responsible for the office of political parties at the TC.
The FPU, which is headed by the president of UNITA, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, the president of the BD, Filomeno Vieira Lopes, and the leader of PRA JA-Servir Angola, Abel Chivukuvuku, was launched on 5 October 2021 and presented as an 'ad-hoc' movement that unites opposition forces for democratic alternation.
"This movement of citizens (...) that has presented itself publicly is not, in the eyes of the TC, a legal entity of its own and as such does not exist in legal-legal terms, so it cannot present the candidacy", he justified.
For the same reason, it cannot carry out party-political actions or activities, which are reserved for political parties.
For Filomeno Vieira Lopes, people "are not prohibited" from doing politics and, he pointed out, "this is the regime's trouble, the regime is troubled by the FPU phenomenon."
"[The regime] wants to pretend it doesn't know what a political movement is, it doesn't know what an 'ad-hoc' platform is, we are so far an 'ad-hoc' platform, we are not a court-registered coalition" , justified.
But, observed one of the coordinators of the FPU, "any day we can be, but the fact that we are not already registered, this does not mean that we cannot reach the citizen".
"Today, the FPU is not a legal entity, but this does not prevent people who recognize themselves in this movement from doing politics", he insisted.
Asked if the FPU will run for the general elections next August, Filomeno Vieira Lopes replied: "After the elections are called, the parties and coalitions will then have 20 days to run and in that period it will be known".
"Right now the atmosphere is more in the FPU as a movement that will support a political force to run as a candidate, like UNITA", he concluded.
