6 January 2009
Luanda — The solemn session of constitution of the new Parliament, held on September 30, 2008, in Luanda, was a remarkable parliamentary event in the just ended year.
The solemn ceremony of investiture of new MPs, held at Talatona Convention Center, south of Luanda, was witnessed by about a thousand people, including former parliamentarians, politicians, religious figures, journalists and guests in general.
At the ceremony, 214 MPs were sworn in, of the 220 elected from the legislative election of September 5, won by the ruling MPLA party with over 5.2 million votes, accounting for 81,64 percent of the National Assembly (Parliament) seats.
This large victory over all the opposition - headed by UNITA, which only reached 670,363 votes (10.39 percent) - gave the MPLA 191 seats in the new parliament, of the 223.
The new house's main legislative challenge for the coming four years (2009-2012) is the drafting and adoption of a new Constitution.
As part of this purpose, the National Assembly in December last year unanimously approved the draft law establishing a Constitutional Commission, the body responsible for drafting the future supreme law of the country.
Marked by the unanimous vote of 194 MPs attending the session, the decision gave legal support for the beginning of a new constituting process, nearly ten years after an initiative of its kind, under the last legislative period (1992/2008) which, however, ended up foiled.
A deadlock between the opposition parties (UNITA, FNLA, PRS and PLD), on the one hand and the ruling MPLA, on the other, led to the extinction of the former Constitutional Commission, that had drafted an almost complete preliminary constitution bill.
Another fact that marked last year was the approval by the National Assembly, the Act that established the Constitutional Court and the election of three judges, whose nomination was a duty of the MPs.
The approval of the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court and the law governing the constitutional process, allowed the body to assess the political parties candidates to the second legislative election that took place on September 5 last year.
Among other duties, the Constitutional Court is tasked with appraising the constitutionality of the laws, decrees, resolutions and ratified international treaties and verify their compliance with the Constitution.
It has also power to decide on matters concerning election, political parties and parliamentary litigation, on presidential and parliamentary candidacies, regularities electoral acts, constitution, extinction of political parties and loss of mandate by the National Assembly.
The court is comprised by seven judges, appointed from among lawyers and judges, including three by the head of State (including the Court's presiding judge), an equal number by the National Assembly and one by the plenary of the Supreme Court.
Also marked the year 2008, the parliamentary approval of the draft Law that extinguishes the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation (GURN), set up on November 14, 1996, under the Lusaka Protocol.
Reading the reasoning report, the vice president of the ruling MPLA parliamentary bench, Mr Norberto dos Santos "Kwata Kanawa", said that in 12 years of his term, the GURN fulfilled the purpose of its establishment, having been an important instrument of national reconciliation.
According to the deputy, with the holding of legislative elections on September 5, the country entered a process of normalisation of its constitutional affairs, and the GURN ceased its functions with the end of the term that started in 1992.
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