João Lourenço addressed the militants of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in Zaire, where he presented the party's candidate for vice-president of the Republic, Esperança Costa, highlighting the fulfillment of the commitment on gender parity.
The MPLA president also highlighted the fact that the party also has a woman as vice president. "Comrade Luísa Damião is vice-president of one of the biggest political parties in Africa, if not the world. If one of the biggest political parties on the continent has a female vice-president, can't Angola have a vice-president of the Republic? , and we will work so that in the future, I don't know when, Angola may also have a female President of the Republic", he stressed.
In his nearly one-hour speech, João Lourenço again criticized his opponents who seek to discredit this year's general elections, the fifth that the country has registered since 1992.
"We know that there are those who are doing the exact opposite, someone who, being Angolan, seeks to discredit, seeks to tarnish the elections in their own country, elections in which they will participate, in which they are already a party, because they are in the National Assembly, in the National Electoral Commission, they are in this society and even so, instead of trying to give credibility to something that belongs to all of us - the elections are not just for one party - the elections are for all parties and all the people", he said.
For João Lourenço, candidate for a second term in these elections, "the correct thing" is that all political parties and other institutions, called upon to work for the success of these elections, "do everything well done, in order to give credibility to the elections for 24 August ".
"We appeal to all political parties to assume their true role as educators, peacemakers, to work not only with their militants, with their members, but to work with the whole of society, with the whole people - whoever votes does not it is only the members, who vote are the Angolans – it is our obligation to work with everyone, in order to guarantee that these elections take place with the greatest possible civility, where each one will seek with their program to convince the electorate that it is better, that is the right bet to govern the country in the next five years", he stressed.
João Lourenço also urged political parties to "discourage any kind of violence, to discourage any kind of political intolerance", stressing that this responsibility lies with the political forces.
"Don't think that we have to let things happen, that then we just have to call the police to put order. We don't want to give the police work. order, because preventively we will have already done our work with our members, our militants, friends and sympathizers, but also with the people, citizens, society as a whole, so that the upcoming elections take place in the best way", he stressed. .
From the MPLA militants, the party leader asked for work to convince the electorate, not just the mass acts that he has been carrying out "with some success all over the country".
"The rallies are very good, but we need to do the work door to door, we need to convince, first, our own family members at home, we need to convince our neighbors, friends, the residents of our street, our neighborhood, the vote right and the right vote, in our view, is to vote for the MPLA, because, unfortunately, it will still take many years before serious parties like our MPLA emerge in Angola", he said.
On the need and struggle for the alternation of power, mentioned by his opponents, João Lourenço, used the "old saying that a horse that wins is not exchanged, it is not changed".
"The Angolan people have to trust in the winner that is the MPLA, the one that has already shown seriousness, that what they say does, speaks of gender parity and fulfills, the people will take advantage of that advantage that has always been on their side, in the difficult moments, in the moments of war, the MPLA was always by his side, at the time of decision the people will be distracted, obviously not", he said.
The MPLA leader stressed that his term, which began in 2017, was affected by the civil-19 pandemic, however, works have been presented to society in recent months.
"The party whose executive despite two years of covid-19, practically half of the mandate - you couldn't work because of covid-19, we were all closed - but the MPLA for the love of these people, in the dead of night, was working, that's the only way to understand that the openings are coming out, sprouting like mushrooms", he observed.
To those from Zaire, northern province, João Lourenço announced the completion of several works, namely a new international airport, two housing projects, the Soyo Refinery, roads, a higher institute and a fertilizer factory.
