In this public petition, signed by more than 400 Angolan citizens, including well-known activists and members of civil society, the signatories defend the promotion of a "fair vote, electoral truth and a fully independent CNE, free from MPLA's interference".
For the signatories of the petition, to which Lusa had access on Tuesday, the counting of votes "should be done in each polling station, the electoral results should be posted in each polling station and all the summary reports should be posted in the polling stations".
The next general elections in Angola are scheduled for 2022. Deputies are discussing, in the specialty, the amendment of several diplomas of the electoral package of initiative of the parliamentary groups of the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, in opposition).
According to the "civic movement in defense of fair voting and electoral truth," the tabulation of election results "should be carried out in the respective geographical units of the electoral register (municipalities, urban districts, communes, neighborhoods, settlements, areas of consular jurisdiction).
The minutes of the polling station "must be computed, certified, approved, and published in the respective geographical units of the electoral register before being sent to the provincial electoral commission," they argue.
The signers of the petition also demand the "adoption of electronic ballot boxes, as it is an instrument against fraud, or at least of less risk of fraud."
"Civil society should, through its participation as an observer, accompany the electoral act, the functioning of the polling stations and the polling stations, the counting of votes, the announcement of the partial and final results, and accompany the fixing of the minutes with the results," reads the document.
The "civic movement" also advocates the need to establish the principle of "equitable access" to the media for parties competing in the elections, and the definition of rules for financing party campaigns, as well as the "prohibition and punishment of intimidation and corruption practices".
Sedrick Carvalho, Olívio Quilumbo, Nelson Adelino Dembo "Gangsta", Margareth Nangacovie, Laura Macedo, Laurinda Gouveia and father Jacinto Pio Wacussanga are among the signers of the public petition.
The Angolan political scientist Olívio Quilumbo told Lusa that he signed the petition aware that the "country lacks electoral truth", considering it to be "important and necessary that the counting of votes be done from each polling station".
The first phase of voter registration, in Angola and abroad, aimed at the elections scheduled for next year, begins in September and runs until next December, and the second phase is scheduled between January 5 and March 31, 2022.
