The parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) also considers that the holding of the aforementioned ceremony, "in favor of the campaign of candidates for President of the Republic and deputies to the National Assembly of the regime's party for the elections of 24 August represents the 'thingification' of faith".
"As well as the instrumentalization of religion for purposes contrary to the social doctrine of the church", reads a press release from the UNITA parliamentary group, released this Monday.
A video circulated on social media in Angola shows a group of more than a dozen religious, mostly kneeling, praying in the main room of the parliament plenary, in Luanda.
According to UNITA, the ceremony was held last week and its promoters "demonstrated, once again, disrespect for the Constitution of the Republic and the law".
The UNITA parliamentary group "comes, by this means, to denounce and strongly condemn this act that once again reveals ignorance of the purposes of State sovereignty bodies, misuse of State institutions by the ruling party [Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola – MPLA] for their own benefit", refers in the note.
For UNITA, this act also represents a devaluation of the bodies of the National Assembly and "demands" that the president of the body, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, "clears responsibilities".