Luanda — The Constitutional Court (TC) granted Thursday the unspecified precautionary measure in which the Social Renewal Party (PRS) activist, Sapalo António, invoked the practice of acts contrary to the statutory norms of the political formation during the preparation of its Fifth Congress.
In Ruling No. 880/2024, to which ANGOP had access, the Constitutional Court concluded that the legal prerequisites for enacting the aforementioned measure were met, as there was a well-founded fear of serious and difficult to repair damage to the right invoked by the applicant, having consequently, the party was ordered to refrain from holding the announced Congress.
In the petition, Sapalo António requested the validity of this Unspecified Precautionary Measure, without prior hearing of the defendant, the suspension of the acts carried out by the National Executive Secretariat of the PRS and the annulment of the deliberations taken by its preparatory committee.
In his reasons, Sapalo António explains that the IV PRS Congress held in May 2017 elected its management bodies, whose mandate, after 6 years, ended on May 31, 2023.
He adds that, for the purpose of renewing the elective bodies, the party president called for the Fifth Ordinary Congress, in accordance with paragraph i) of article 42 of the Statutes.
However, in order to prepare the V Congress, the president appointed a commission made up of members of the National Executive Secretariat, which constitutes a serious violation of paragraphs a), b), c) and i) of article 39 of the PRS Statutes.
It also states that for the constitution of the preparatory committee, the president met only with the executive secretary, vice-president, general secretary and some main secretaries, when he should have convened the 201 elected members who make up the National Committee, a body with competence to deliberate on the convening of the congress, as established in paragraph 1 of article 37 and paragraphs a), b), c) and i) of article 39 of the PRS Statutes.
Regarding the composition of the commission, he states that the president selected and integrated individuals he trusted with the purpose of deceiving public opinion, leaving out the members who make up the National Committee (Central Committee) and the Political Council (Political Bureau).
Likewise, he argues that he was verbally disciplined for having expressed his intention to run for president in the next election.
As a result, he argued that a complaint was made to the Ethics and Audit Commission (CEA), with an appeal to the president, to find out the reasons that determined the application of the aforementioned sanction, but these bodies remained silent.
Sapalo António also says that the commission, coordinated by the National Executive Secretariat, to the detriment of the statutory powers of the PRS National Committee, prepared a Preliminary Draft Directive/2023, which establishes the procedures to be observed for holding the Nucleus Assemblies, District, Communal, Municipal, Provincial and Congress Conferences, as well as candidacies, in the election of delegates and candidates, within the scope of the V Ordinary Congress.
He argues that the National Executive Secretariat does not have the competence to present and approve the aforementioned Preliminary Project, which establishes the procedures and subjects of the Congress's agenda and the approval of the regulations necessary for the application of the party's Statutes.
On December 28, 2023, in confrontation with the party's rules, the president met the National Executive Secretariat and from this meeting decisions were made on issues relating to the preparation of the V Congress, as well as the approval of regulations and election of committees at the same.
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He also says that, in this meeting, the National Committee and the Political Council of the PRS, statutorily equivalent to the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of a political formation, did not take part.
In this context, the politician states that, in this preparation led by the aforementioned commission, serious irregularities are noted, especially in the way in which the acts leading to the holding of the V Ordinary Congress are being implemented.
For this reason, he reports that the immediate consequence is the challenge to the holding of the V Ordinary Congress due to the violation of statutory norms in its preparation. SC/DOJ
