The jurist was speaking to Lusa a day after the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) announced that it would challenge, with the Constitutional Court, the resolution that approved the election of the second vice-president of the National Assembly, appointed and “imposed ” by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
According to the UNITA parliamentary group, the claim arises in protest against the “imposition” by the MPLA of a second vice-president of the National Assembly, which “violates” the principle of proportional representation.
For Inglês Pinto, the current differences between the MPLA and UNITA, which entered a collision course on Friday, the day of the inauguration of the deputies of the new legislature, revive the need for a profound revision of the Constitution.
“We have to think about a profound revision of the Constitution as it no longer corresponds to the country's moment”, he stressed.
The Constitution “creates situations of instability and constitutionalists, in a dispassionate way, must analyze this situation”, defended the also former chairman of the Angolan Bar Association.
Inglês Pinto recommended that the MPLA and UNITA, which express opposing positions on the appointment of the second vice-president of the organ, make concessions and not be “extremely legalistic”.
“As they were elected by the people, in principle they reflect the position of the people, and the voter must be respected, so there must be reciprocal concessions, without violating the law, of course”, the jurist told Lusa, stressing that technicians linked to the law constitutional and administrative in Angola are also “curiously” making “divergent interpretations” on the matter.
The constitutive meeting of the National Assembly of Angola, for the 2022-2027 legislature, approved a resolution last Friday that elected deputy Américo Cuononoca (MPLA) as first vice-president of the body and deputy Raul Lima (MLPA) second vice-president. -president of parliament.
The election of the second vice-president of parliament, appointed by the MPLA, led UNITA deputies to leave the plenary room en bloc, complaining that the ruling party had “broken the political commitment”.
According to the leader of the UNITA parliamentary bench, Liberty Chiyaka, following consultations between delegations of deputies from the two largest parties, the parties agreed that in light of parliamentary representation (124 MPLA deputies and 90 from UNITA), the second vice-president of the organ would be deputy Arlete Chimbinda (UNITA), “but this agreement was broken”.
The president of the MPLA parliamentary group, Virgílio de Fontes Pereira, quoted by the Angolan press, denied any agreement on the subject, referring that UNITA had “misinterpreted an informal meeting”.
The Lusa agency sought further clarification from Virgílio Fontes Pereira, without success.
For Inglês Pinto, the MPLA and UNITA “have to get used to” making concessions, “especially looking at what was the level of abstention” in the August 24 elections. “Because a situation of political instability can lead to social instability, that's what worries me, so it's necessary to seek consensus”, he underlined.
The jurist, however, considered UNITA's claim to challenge the aforementioned resolution to be "normal". “You have the right to do so, but you cannot abuse the rights in exercising them,” he noted. “It is necessary to have wisdom to make concessions without bending some principles, under penalty of creating discouragement at the level of the population, after the general elections”, concluded Inglês Pinto.
