"It is certainly necessary for the parliament's management to pronounce an apology because it was a big mistake to be allowed to say prayers in the plenary room", PRS deputy Benedito Daniel told Lusa this Tuesday.
"We do not condemn prayers, but we condemn the act because things must be separated. Prayers have their places, therefore the places of prayers are in churches and at least in people's homes", he observed.
For the also president of the PRS, the third largest opposition party with a parliamentary seat, the National Assembly "is an organ of sovereignty and cannot be transformed into a church, which is for all intents and purposes reprehensible."
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.
UNITA demanded, on Monday, the president of parliament to determine responsibilities for the "secret religious ceremony" held in the plenary room of the legislative body, considering it as the "peak of promiscuity" between state and religion.
The UNITA parliamentary group also considered 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 the 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.
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".
This Tuesday, the PRS politician disapproved of the act, saying that the pastors are wrong, but they, he stressed, had access to the main room of the plenary with "the connivance of the Angolan parliament administration".
"Certainly there was connivance (from the administration of parliament), because we think there was some request and it was authorized, which is why they went there to pray, because if they weren't authorized they would find another place", concluded Benedito Daniel.
