Luanda – The ruling MPLA party Wednesday in Luanda forwarded to the Constitutional Court (TC) its candidacy for the general elections of 24 August this year, thus becoming the first political organisation to formalise its proposal.
The candidacy was presented by its representative, Pedro Neto, who arrived at the Palace of Justice and headquarters of the Constitutional Court, precisely at 09:50 local time (08:50 GMT), accompanied by the Party’s vice president, Luísa Damião.
The move follows the call for elections by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, on 3 June, after favorable opinions from the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and the TC on the existence of conditions for this purpose.
In the candidacy presented, the MPLA will compete on a list led by its current president, João Lourenço, as a candidate for his own succession as head of State.
The second position is occupied by Esperança Maria Eduardo Francisco da Costa, current Secretary of State for Fisheries, who will run for Vice-President of the Republic.
The submission period of candidacies, which began last Monday (06), will run until the 25th June.
After this phase, political parties will have 10 days to respond to any irregularities or shortcomings in the processes submitted.
The MPLA is part of the 13 political parties already qualified to compete, along with others such as UNITA, the FNLA, the PRS (Party for Social Renewal), the Bloco Democratico (BD) and the Aliança Patriótica Nacional (APN).
The other contestants are P-NJANGO (National Party for Justice in Angola), Angolan Humanist Party (PHA) and CASA-CE coalition – comprising five parties.
In the last general elections, held in 2017, the MPLA won the vote with 61.08 percent of the votes, which enabled it to gain the current 150 MPs in a 220-seat Parliament.
The MPLA was founded on December 10, 1956, as a national liberation movement against Portuguese colonialism, before becoming a political party after independence in 1975.
Since then, it has been at the forefront of the country’s destinies, first under the leadership of Agostinho Neto (1975-1979) and, later, of José Eduardo Santos (1979-2017), João Lourenço’s predecessor.
Ideologically based on democratic socialism, the MPLA proclaims as its flag the defence of social justice, humanism, freedom, equality and solidarity.
It ruled as a single party from independence until 1991, when Angola moved from single-party to pluralist democracy with the first general elections held in September 1992.
It won, by an absolute majority, in all the elections already held, with 53.74 percent of the votes (1992), 81 percent (2008), 71.84 percent (2012) and 61.08 percent (2017).
The vote corresponded, respectively, to 129, 191, 175 and 150 MPs in Parliament against 70, 16, 32 and 51 for UNITA, its main opponent.
Source: Angola Press News Agency