Luís Jimbo, coordinator of the Angolan Electoral Observatory (Obea), commented, in statements to Lusa, the initiative of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to Accuse and Dismiss the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, which will be considered at a extraordinary plenary session of the National Assembly of Angola, scheduled for this Saturday, at 2 pm local time.
According to the academic, UNITA created a political fact, to gain political advantage in a context in which the indicators of support for President João Lourenço "are decreasing internally in the MPLA [Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola]", the party in power since independence of the country in 1975.
Luís Jimbo highlighted that the Constitution determines that the President cannot serve a new term and the MPLA's internal statutes indicate that the presumptive candidate must also have "some comfort from the party president, that is, the MPLA is in uncertainty, politically, until 2027".
The Obea coordinator highlighted that the internal crisis in the MPLA began with the wear and tear caused by the fight against corruption, because "the 'marimbondos', a designation that President João Lourenço used for those who committed this crime", have some connection of familiarity or proximity to former rulers linked to the party.
According to Luís Jimbo, this situation has been internally eroding political relationships and trust.
The UNITA initiative, argued the expert, in addition to the internal crisis in the MPLA also has social support, due to poverty, economic crisis and recession.
The analyst highlighted that the political, social and economic situation that the country is experiencing and the MPLA's internal challenges constitute an opportunity for the opposition to "bury even more" the party in power, which, in the 2022 elections, lost its largest political square, which It's Luanda.
"On these occasions of deep crisis and when there is a real threat from the opposition, the groups tend to consolidate, it can precipitate solidarity to defend the leader, a moment to close ranks, (...) MPLA activists can look at this as a real threat to end the MPLA, to remove its leader and enter into a deep crisis, this is a natural group feeling, of internal cohesion in the face of an external threat", he warned.
Luís Jimbo looks at the current moment as one of "political maturity", still marked by a lack of dialogue, but without "an extreme of violence", highlighting that he feels that the MPLA, through parliament, "has the feeling and desire to accept the mechanisms of the law".
At the beginning of this process, when UNITA made the initiative public last July, there was "a rush", seeing the proposal as a threat to the rule of law, a situation that has evolved, highlights Luís Jimbo.
"It was an emotional reaction, but after a while the MPLA itself and the institutions of power became aware of the desire to respect the law", he stressed.
"If the law determines this, we will follow the law (...) that is, yes, it can truly start a profound revolution within the institutions, within parliament, and not as we have been witnessing in other States (...) which It is on the streets that these advances in democracy are sought through revolutions, which result in deaths", highlighted the analyst.
