Filomeno Vieira Lopes expressed his position at a press conference, held a day after CASA-CE announced that it had suspended the political participation of the Democratic Bloc until 2022, as it decided not to renew the participation agreement with the coalition in the general elections of next year.
According to Vieira Lopes, the coalition has a statute that admits that a member can be suspended for a certain period - between one to six months - but in the statement, CASA-CE does not make this period limitation.
"In the communiqué we had access to, we did not see this limitation of period. This comes in article 15, paragraph c), article 15, paragraph d) speaks of the possibility of expulsion, any of these paragraphs is subject to another article, which is the 16th paragraph 1, which says that this type of sanction, naturally, the parties must be heard, there must be a disciplinary process and this did not occur", said Filomeno Vieira Lopes, in issued statements on public radio.
The politician underlined that CASA-CE has an audit and discipline body, which can move these processes and then propose any type of sanction to the presidential college.
"This has not been observed. We will, of course, take the appropriate positions regarding this situation. These coalitions are registered with the Constitutional Court and their own statutes admit that there may be, in this type of case, appeals to the Constitutional Court itself" , he said.
The president of the Democratic Bloc stressed that the party is in a coalition that has effects on a legislature and the leadership will meet and take a stand.
"The appeal in relation to Organs internal organs is the normal position, in relation to the Constitutional Court is to discuss the problem itself", he pointed out.
At issue is, according to a statement from CASA-CE that Lusa had access to, the "active engagement" of the Democratic Bloc in a new political project, called Frente Patriotica Unida, which also includes the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the politician Abel Chivukuvuku, leader of the political project PRA-JA Servir Angola.
According to the statement from CASA-CE on the matter, in view of the last meeting of the political committee of the Democratic Bloc, held over the weekend, it was decided that it would adapt its participation in the coalition, removing the party from all structures linked to the coalition electoral strategy, both at central, intermediate and grassroots level.
The Democratic Bloc also chose to maintain support for CASA-CE in the field of accounting management, strengthen its presence in the management of the parliamentary group and assume tasks relating to the vice-presidency of the coalition's assets, as well as keeping intact all rights acquired by via CASA-CE, in the 2017 general elections, namely the quota of commissioners to the National Electoral Commission and the funds allocated to the parties quarterly.
Given the position of the Democratic Bloc, the CASA-CE presidential college resolved to suspend the party's political participation in the coalition until 2022, maintain its participation in the parliamentary group, as well as assess, afterwards, the maintenance of the rights acquired as a member, in the mandate 2017-2022.
On the permanence or not of the Democratic Block in the coalition until 2022, according to the proposal presented by the party, CASA-CE will refer the decision to the deliberative bodies of the associated political parties.
"The presidential college of CASA-CE welcomes the attitude of manifest openness assumed by the Democratic Bloc, which, despite being late, will allow each of the parties to fully materialize their strategic programmatic lines, during the pre-electoral campaign period, in view of the great political and electoral challenges, why they propose to participate", underlines the statement.
