In an interview with Lusa on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of independence, the retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Angola considered that the country should make "progress and improvements in the electoral law" to make "people better understand what an electoral process is in modern times".
Onofre dos Santos, who will participate on Wednesday in Lisbon as a guest speaker at the 6th International Congress of Angolan Studies, promoted by the Scientific Research Network of Angola, stressed that he is "convinced" that people who make proposals to change the Angolan electoral law "can do whatever they want and the results will not be changed".
According to the retired judge, the way in which election data is currently transmitted in Angola means that "people, when they expect to win and lose, think that these results may not be reliable. And this is a question of conviction and perception".
"What still happens today, and we are in the 21st century (...), in the age of technology, is that we continue to put the results on a sheet of paper, in an envelope, seal the envelope and send them" to a center, he said, explaining in detail that in each polling station, each with around 500 voters, the votes are counted and separated by hand by party and coalition, and a report is drawn up signed by everyone, which is then sent to the municipalities, more than 300 in Angola, and from there to the provinces. There can be 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 polling stations.
The law stipulates that, from the provinces, they will be sent "as expeditiously" to the center where the national qualification is carried out. But, "what is the expeditious way, by fax, fax, where?", he asked, emphasizing that the National Elections Commission (CNE) will decide.
"The people working at the CNE are people who do not have the slightest technological knowledge. The ones who know are the technicians. They have to be hired, there have to be competitions, there have to be people who can audit the entire process and the way everything is done" and who "then put a seal of authenticity on it", he stated.
"I believe in this seal", he added, stressing that, for this to happen, it is necessary to create conditions, to have a technological solution.
Now, "a computer, like the ones the CNE has in Luanda, can start producing results in 24 hours", he stressed.
"People need to know how these results are transmitted, the way, and that this transmission is shared, that it is made known, like when someone sends an email. But there is a way to communicate very reliable information, no matter how confidential it is", he said.
As for the people who are on the CNE, he stressed that "they were elected by the parties, (...) they are true civil servants of the CNE, who have been working continuously all their lives, and are only prepared to oppose the results if necessary", he concluded.
Onofre dos Santos was one of the 247 personalities decorated by President João Lourenço on April 4, in the categories of independence and development and peace.
Saying that he was "very grateful for this", he regretted that figures such as the writer Pepetela had been forgotten and that the "certificates that were awarded to 247 personalities did not highlight, in relation to each one, what they did specifically (...). It was all very vague".
As for the criticism that independence leaders such as Holden Roberto, from the FNLA, or Jonas Savimbi, from Unita, were not decorated, he disagrees.
"In my opinion, none of them should have received it, because they have already passed into immortality, they are part of Angola's history, and giving them a medal like the ones awarded to any ordinary mortal, like me, was a low level of consideration towards them." "They are above all that," he declared.
Now, "we have to recognize those who brought us here, and Jonas Savimbi, Holden Roberto and Agostinho Neto and José Eduardo dos Santos, despite all the mistakes they made, and they made many, the truth is that they all contributed to Angola becoming the country it is today, free, independent and sovereign," he stressed.
If he were an advisor to President João Lourenço, Onofre dos Santos would tell him that November 11, the date on which Angola's 50th independence is celebrated, "is the time (...) to recognize those who brought us here" and pay tribute to them.
