On Friday, UNITA asked the TC to declare the ineffectiveness of the minutes of the final results of the August 24 elections - which gave the victory by an absolute majority to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) - and that the National Commission Electoral Council (CNE) was summoned to admit its complaints.
In the judgment released this Monday by the TC and signed by nine of the 10 judges meeting in plenary, the TC concluded that the request made "results as an automatic effect of the law, under the terms of article 158 of the Organic Law of General Elections (LOEG )" and considers that the cumulative assumptions for its enactment are not met, under articles 399 and following of the Code of Civil Procedure".
The Constitutional Court concluded that UNITA made use of an expedient which, "due to its expedient and supplementary nature, is reserved by law for situations in which there are no other means to ensure the useful effect of the alleged rights".
However, on the date of entry of the injunction, the applicant, that is, UNITA, "had already filed the electoral litigation appeal" with the TC, a request that was admitted and notified, according to the judgment.
"Having admitted the aforementioned appeal, it suspends the effects of the decision to be appealed, so the ineffectiveness of the minutes of the national tabulation of the final electoral results of the general elections that the applicant intends to safeguard, is safeguarded by the LOEG, which establishes a procedure and a faster deadline, that is, up to 72 hours for the final decision", he adds.
"Therefore, on the date of entry of the present injunction, the legal effect intended by the applicant had already been produced", that is, the suspension of the decision that was the subject of appeal.
On the other hand, the court considered that the cumulative requirements for the enactment of a measure were not met, namely, the well-founded fear or "pericullum in mora" (risk of a late decision), based on the fact that the suspensive effect that is conferred by law to electoral disputes, to guard against the request for the ineffectiveness of the electoral results tallying minutes.
The TC concludes that, on the one hand, "if there is a specific action defined by law to safeguard the rights invoked here, a subsidiary means should not be used, as is the case of the precautionary procedure, on the other hand, the cumulative presuppositions of the unspecified injunction".
Last week, the president of the CNE, Manuel Pereira da Silva, released the final tabulation minutes of the August 24 general elections, which proclaimed the MPLA and its candidate, João Lourenço, as winners with 51.17 percent of the votes, followed by UNITA with 43.95 percent.
With these results, the MPLA elected 124 deputies and UNITA 90 deputies, almost double the 2017 elections.
The Social Renewal Party (PRS) won two seats in parliament by adding 1.14 percent of voters' votes, the same number of deputies that won the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) with 1.06 percent and 1.02 percent of votes respectively.
The CASA-CE coalition, the APN and the P-Njango did not obtain seats in the National Assembly, which in the 2022-2027 legislature will have 220 deputies.
