In a statement on the TC ruling released on Thursday, which dismissed the appeal filed by UNITA and validated the electoral results presented by the National Electoral Commission, Marcial Dachala accused the court of denying justice to the party, not applying the law and doing politics.
"He deceived the citizens and also deceived UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola), underlined the leader, adding that it is the competence of the TC, in the guise of an electoral court, "to take all steps to find out the truth about the winner of the elections".
However, he considers that the TC did not respond to the questions raised by UNITA: "it is even shameful that the TC accepted that the minutes held by UNITA are false when these minutes were delivered to UNITA by the CNE and, eventually, to other parties through of list delegates".
Judgment 769/2022 states, on page 6, that the applicant (UNITA) "attached to the case file alleged summary minutes of repeated polling stations (duplicated, tripled and quadrupled, false, erased, tampered with, without polling station code discrepant as to content, written on A4 paper and unintelligible)".
"This is very serious, that's why UNITA challenges the court to extract a certificate for due criminal procedure", urged Marcial Dachala.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal filed by UNITA, stressing that the evidence presented "does not allow us to question the overall results" of the elections announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
The TC invoked the law to justify the non-publication of the minutes because "the possibility of posting them in a place other than the polling stations, as well as after the publication of the general and definitive results is not allowed".
In the judgment, an external audit of the process is also refused because the TC considers that the CNE has its own mechanism and is an "independent public administration body" of the Government and is "bound by the principle of administrative legality".
In the application, UNITA asked for the correction of the mandates assigned in the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Luanda, Namibe and Zaire - which would have an impact on the national circle count -, but the TC refused because it considered that the supporting documents had a "very low quality", rejecting 3405 copies of minutes.
"It was found that a high number of photocopies and prints of the minutes delivered were not in compliance", justified the TC, which rejected other "676 photocopies and prints" that "were not considered because they do not comply with the scrutiny rules" defined in organic law.
UNITA contested the electoral base, alleging the existence of 2.7 million deceased in the registers as well as several irregularities in the summary-minute model, but the TC also refused this request, because they are matters of a "procedural nature", which "does not substantially and irremediably jeopardize the general results of the elections".
In the ruling approved in the plenary by eight judges, Judge Josefa Neto voted unsuccessful, who in her statement mentions that the most important thing would be to check the electoral truth reflected in the polls, insofar as what is at stake is the legitimacy of political powers, which, he maintains, was not hit.
According to the judge, the CNE said, in counterclaims in this case, that it complied with the legislation. "However, the records to which I had access contradict this statement" and "I understand, therefore, that the judgment that now expires should reflect such disagreement and order the restoration of legality", in order to "give the necessary transparency to the process here in question, in favor of electoral truth", says Josefa Neto, in the declaration of vote.
A few weeks ago, the president of the CNE, Manuel Pereira da Silva, released the final tabulation minutes of the August 24 general elections, which proclaimed the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and its candidate, João Lourenço, as winners. with 51.17 percent of the votes, followed by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (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 and the debuting Humanist Party of Angola (PHA) each elect two deputies.
CASA-CE, the National Patriotic Alliance (APN) and P-Njango did not obtain seats in the National Assembly, which in the 2022-2027 legislature will have 220 deputies.
