According to the executive secretariat of the Standing Committee of the Political Commission of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the challenge process that runs in the Constitutional Court (TC) "no longer seeks jurisdictional protection of legality".
The election of Adalberto Costa Júnior, according to the committee's clarification note, presented in Luanda, "respected the applicable rules and deliberations" established by Organs competent organs of the party adopted at the 13th congress.
"The candidacy of Adalberto Costa Júnior was submitted to the requirements of this regulation and, as no incompatibility was registered, it was admitted and verified by the organizing committee of the congress and ratified by the Standing Committee of the Political Committee, at a meeting on October 21, 2019", reads up on the note.
The current president of UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, was elected on 15 November 2019 as the third leader of the political force founded by Jonas Savimbi, replacing Isaias Samakuva.
An alleged group of party members, who contests the current leadership, points out alleged irregularities registered at the congress, namely that Adalberto Costa Júnior would have run for the leadership without relinquishing Portuguese nationality, having challenged the act with the TC.
The party's leadership assured this Friday that when the candidates were selected, the election and his investiture, Adalberto Costa Júnior "was the holder of only one nationality, the original Angolan".
The Portuguese nationality acquired from Adalberto Costa Júnior, the document continues, "was not only known but was also allowed by UNITA, since, given UN sanctions, it made it possible for this leader to circulate around the world in party missions."
"Thus, the question of Portuguese nationality (already renounced), by Adalberto Costa Júnior, is faced at UNITA with perfect normality and circumscribed in a certain phase of its history and, in general, that of Angola", the statement said.
UNITA "regrets that, consciously or unconsciously, citizens who assume themselves as its members have been involved in this process", and is "attentive and very vigilant", stresses the note, adding that "it will know how to respond with due maturity in the exact measure to this and other anti-democratic maneuvers".
In this clarification note presented by its spokesman Marcial Dachala, UNITA, which classifies the matter as a "noise", states that it aims to "hit the leadership of the party, accusing it of not being sufficiently reputable".
This "noise", the document points out, is also intended to "devalue the democratic culture that is already an indelible mark of UNITA and divert the attention of Angolans to the general and deep crisis that the country is experiencing, resulting from disastrous policies".
