Registration of Angolan voters in the diaspora advances in January 2022

The minister was speaking to journalists at the end of a meeting with members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Angola, whose objective was to clarify the diplomats on the electoral registration process, which is expected to start on September 23, as well as the electoral registration abroad. which is the first time that Angola carries out this exercise.

"In order for them to do so, it is imperative that they are registered as voters, so that they can exercise their right to vote", he declared, stressing that the responsible teams are already working to create the necessary organizational and operational conditions.

The start of electoral registration abroad is scheduled for January 2022 and should last for three months, he said.

Asked about the fact that many citizens still do not have an identity card, Marcy Lopes said that the electoral registration, in person, with a voter card will only be done in areas considered difficult to access where civil identification services are not installed.

Only those who have an Identity Card (BI) can do the unofficial electoral registration, since the information from the BI database, supervised by the Ministry of Justice, will be transferred to the database of senior citizens regulated by the MAT, and the executive intends to discontinue the voters card by 2027.

The fact that the BI has expired will not be an obstacle to voter registration, according to Marcy Lopes.

"As long as these tickets are in the database of major citizens, they will be able to update their voter registration", since the essential is that the citizen has a ID card, regardless of whether it is valid or not, said the governor.

About six million Angolans are registered in the database of major citizens, according to the national director of Identification, Registries and Notary, Carlos Cavuquila.

Júlio Maiato, Director of the Institute of Angolan Communities Abroad and Consular Services, indicated, on the other hand, that the technical and multi-sector teams have been carrying out data updating, estimating that close to 400,000 Angolans reside abroad, with greater presence in African countries (47 percent), especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

Portugal is the country with the most Angolans in Europe, concentrating 24 percent of the national diaspora, followed by France.