At issue, according to the mission, is the fact that the press had treated "unequally the contestants in the general elections before and during the electoral campaign" and the contesting parties doubted the national tabulation, at the National Scrutiny Centre.
On the other hand, "the initial release of the results by the National Electoral Commission" did not respect the legislation, "according to which the release of the provisional general results of each candidacy must be made by electoral district", the journalists warn.
"The candidates for the elections did not have effective knowledge of the real number of voters, given the presence, in the Computer File of Voting Citizens, of deceased citizens", they stressed.
In the mission's balance report, the SJA noted that the electoral process "was free and peaceful" and voters "exercised their rights without any constraint".
The mission, led by journalist Luísa Rogério, worked in four provinces of the country, Luanda, Bengo, Namibe and Lunda Norte.
Regarding the inequality of media coverage, favoring the winning party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the union recalled that "the media have a duty to ensure the principles of contradictory and equal treatment during the campaign and in programs of its own initiative".
However, "many journalists throughout the national territory were not accredited for electoral coverage, as the National Electoral Commission concentrated the process, in Luanda, at the Aníbal Melo Press Center".
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) "did not release the voters' lists within 30 days of the date set for elections", having verified the "relocation of a large number of voters".
The mission recommends the "transfer of regulatory powers to a Media Regulatory Entity that is in fact independent and capable of supervising the performance of the media during electoral periods and beyond".
The union recommended that "journalists always respect the public interest, the basis of their activity, as well as the incompatibilities established in the Law on the Statute of Journalists and in the Code of Ethics and Deontology".
In addition, the mission also recommended "the reformulation of the composition and functioning of the National Electoral Commission, as proposed by the Southern African Development Community".
