Luanda — The vice-president of the MPLA, Luísa Damião, said on Thursday in Luanda that the National Assembly (AN) has taken solid and safe steps towards the implementation of municipal elections in the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of the end-of-year greeting ceremony at the National Assembly, the MPLA vice-president made it known that most of the municipal legislative package had already been approved in the hemicycle.

"There are some complementary laws missing and I am convinced that, next time, we will deal with these matters so that we can complete the entire legislative package and complementary laws, so that we can, effectively, have local elections in the country', she expressed.

Among the achievements of the legislative branch during the year, the parliamentarian also highlighted the approval of the General State Budget Proposal (OGE for the 2024 fiscal year, considering it a clear sign that legislators are thinking about the representatives who elected them.

"Each Act we approve, obviously we have to think about those representatives who trusted us to be here', she stressed.

Luisa Damião considered the General State Budget as an important instrument of governance.

"We noticed a certain commitment from the deputies who have done their best so that we have diplomas with that ability to always think about resolving citizens' problems", she emphasized.

On the other hand, the president of UNITA, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, defended the need to hold local and municipal elections in 2024. The politician accused the authorities of allegedly delaying this constitutional desideratum.

For him, with each year that passes without local elections, "we lose what local power can bring to any country, which is citizenship, rights and the capacity for proximity between those who govern and those who are governed". DC/VIC/DOJ