Luanda — The Constitutional Court (TC) has published the initial lists of candidates for the general elections next August, a source from the judicial institution confirmed Sunday.
According to the same source, the aforementioned lists are available for consultation in the window display of the Constitutional Court and on its official website at www.tribunalconstitucional.ao.
The release of the lists is a legal imposition, aiming at publicizing the candidates, so that citizens know who they will be electing, and also to provide the possibility for potential contestants to legally refute candidacy processes.
The electoral law establishes that after the deadline for submission of candidacies and before their assessment by the Plenary of the TC, the court has 48 hours to post the lists of candidates and their identification.
The party's representatives, thus, have 72 hours to legally refute the regularity of the process or the validity of candidacies.
The Plenary of the TC is responsible for verifying the legality of the process, including the authenticity of the documents presented.
If there are irregularities, procedural deficiencies or illegal candidates, the TC shall notify the competing political party or coalition, four days in advance, for the due correction or substitution of candidate.
The correction is done until the tenth day following the candidacies deadline end.
Failure to correct irregularities shall result in rejection of the candidacy in a decision to immediately be published by public notice and posted on the door of the Court.
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If there is no contestation or refutation of candidacies, or once complaints have been sorted out, the TC shall immediately send the validated list of candidates to the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and attach a copy at the Constitutional Court's door.
Another file is sent to the parties representatives and within 48 hours after the publication of the final lists, the CNE draws lots to set the order of the ballot paper.
Seven parties and one coalition of political parties, namely MPLA, UNITA, PRS, CASA-CE, FNLA, PHA, APN and P-NJANGO, submitted their candidacies.
This year's elections, which will have participation of the Angolan citizens abroad for the first time, are the fifth elections in Angola´s history, after those of 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017.
There are roughly 14.3 million voters expected to cast their ballots, including 22,560 Angolan citizens abroad.
The previous poll, held on 23 August 2017, was contested by six political parties, with the participation of 76.57% of approximately 9.3 million registered voters.
