At issue is a ruling by the Luanda Court of Appeal that prevented the holding of a "national dialogue on the electoral legislative package", promoted by the OAA, which intended to encourage "reflection on the electoral legislative package" that is being considered by the National Assembly, with the participation of various segments of civil society.
The document, signed by the five previous OAA presidents who preceded the current board led by José Luís Domingos, states that the act aimed at preventing the aforementioned event “seriously and dangerously harms, affecting the State and society, principles, rights and fundamental freedoms such as the participatory democracy of citizens, the right to assembly and free expression of thought, implying the erosion of the foundations on which the rule of law and democracy in the process of being built in Angola are based”.
The note highlights that, for decades, “the OAA has, in the exercise of its attributions, documented and published its institutional culture, based on current standards, and carried out acts of the same nature as those now in question, without any doubts ever having been raised as to the correctness of its perspectives and actions”.
In their position, the former presidents (1996-2023) encourage the current management of the OAA to continue to fight against their action in strict respect for the Constitution and the law, in general, and, in particular, the Law of the Bar and the Statutes of the Order, “intransigently defending the principles of the Democratic State of Law” in Angola, and “practicing all acts tending to restore constitutionality and legality whenever they are violated”.
The signatories of the document emphasize that the OAA is a public law association, in the form of an autonomous public administration, as a result of the devolution of powers made by the State under the terms of its Statute, in an approval process negotiated with the professional class.
“In addition to its professional self-regulation functions, the order has social intervention duties, translated into the defense of the principles and norms of the democratic rule of law, of the rights, freedoms and fundamental guarantees of citizens, assuming itself as a true civic judiciary obliged to protect participatory democracy, on which the Angolan State is based”, highlight the former presidents.
A group of lawyers filed a precautionary measure against the OAA initiative, claiming that this entity does not have the power to promote an event of this nature.
Among the participants in the debate were the former president of the OAA Luís Paulo Monteiro, the coordinator of the Angolan Social Political Observatory (OPSA), Sérgio Calundungo, the coordinator of the Angolan Electoral Observatory, Luís Jimbo, activists Luaty Beirão and Cesaltina Cutaia, journalists such as Reginaldo Silva and Teixeira Cândido (former president of the union), television commentators Bali Chionga and José Pakisi Mendonça and researchers Cesaltina Abreu and David Boio.
