The solemn act of incineration of voting ballots, electoral registers and summary minutes, used at polling stations in the last elections took place at the Nova Cimangola factory, in Luanda, and was presided over by the president of the CNE, Manuel Pereira da Silva.
In the facilities of that cement manufacturing unit, located in the municipality of Cacuaco, north of the capital, Manuel Pereira da Silva, flanked by CNE national commissioners, opened a container, removed some material and deposited it in one of the high temperature furnaces for the its incineration.
This process was also carried out by the national commissioners of the CNE, presidents of the municipal electoral commissions of Luanda and other members, an act attended by representatives of the five political parties with seats in parliament.
"We therefore comply with the provisions of the Electoral Law that determines the destination to be given to electoral material under the custody of the presidents of the provincial electoral commissions, as the law orders its destruction within a period of one year after the definitive publication of the results", he said Manuel Pereira da Silva.
The person in charge also noted that the date for the incineration of electoral material was decided by the body's plenary session and that similar actions took place across the country in "full compliance with the law".
Without quantifying the electoral material destroyed in the country's 18 provinces, including valid, claimed and invalid ballots, summary minutes and electoral registers used at polling stations, CNE spokesman Lucas Quilundo said that these were "quantities considerable."
"This was an act carried out after the electoral process and therefore we can conclude that the electoral process of August 24, 2022 is closed and is taking place simultaneously in the remaining capitals of the country's provinces under the aegis of the respective provincial electoral commissions", he explained.
In Luanda alone, the country's largest political and electoral square, almost five 20-foot containers (mostly used for ship cargo) containing 2022 electoral material were incinerated, as noted by the president of the Provincial Electoral Commission (CPE), Afonso Ngongo.
The president of the CPE of Luanda signaled the importance of the act translated into a "feeling of mission accomplished".
"It means that from now on we have our workshops open to carry out all the tasks that are assigned to us within the scope of our mission, which is to organize elections in this part of the national territory", he concluded.
The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), led by the current President, João Lourenço, was the winner of the 2022 elections, winning 124 seats in the National Assembly.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was the second most voted party with 90 seats in parliament, almost double the 2017 elections.
The second parliamentary year of the fifth legislature of the Angolan parliament (2023-2027) is scheduled to begin on October 15th with the speech on the State of the Nation to be given by the President, João Lourenço.
