Speaking to Lusa, Reginaldo Silva said that "as a sign of protest" he then abandoned the ERCA plenary meeting.
"I asked for an inquiry into the management of the president of the ERCA for deviation of purpose (...) Adelino Marques de Almeida is leading the entity in disbelief or against itself or ignoring its purposes, its fundamental competences", explained Reginaldo Silva.
In a message on his Facebook page, Reginaldo Silva wrote: "I held him directly responsible for the notorious absence of the ERCA from the electoral campaign. The president of the ERCA was not present, having delegated his powers to another adviser. ERCA produced this year, last May, the board of directors 'reiterated its willingness to dedicate special attention to the media activity in this historic phase that the country is going through'".
The presentation of the inquiry request was made at the plenary session held this morning, a meeting that had not been held for weeks, added Reginaldo Silva, noting that the agenda had only one item on the agenda "that had nothing to do with coverage of the election campaign".
The last ERCA plenary meeting took place on 24 June.
"I decided to leave in protest," he reiterated. "It has to be the plenary [of the ERCA] to decide. There is not much possibility that the plenary will decide favorably to open such an inquiry, because they have a clear majority, a large majority", he acknowledged.
Angola holds elections on the 24th of August and according to Reginaldo Silva the entity has resigned from its powers, which is to monitor the way in which the electoral campaign has been covered.
The presentation of the request for an inquiry into the actions of the president of the ERCA coincided with the filing, also this Friday, of a popular action with the Angolan Supreme Court (TS) against the President and the public information bodies, for the "lack of exemption and unequal treatment" of political parties, an initiative by members of civil society.
The popular action, signed by 57 members of civil society, assigned to various civic organizations, was delivered at the headquarters of the TS, in Luanda, by a group headed by Portuguese-Angolan activist Luaty Beirão.
The measure is against the President, João Lourenço, ERCA, the Public Television of Angola (TPA), Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), Jornal de Angola and TV Zimbo, a state-owned private station.
For the subscribers, the media has an added responsibility in the consolidation of democracy, but the performance of those bodies, especially in this election period, is marked by "lack of exemption and unequal treatment" of competing political forces.
