The electoral process in Angola is in full swing following a massive effort by the newly set up Constitutional Court to analyse the applications of all 77 political parties and coalitions who wanted to stand in September’s elections. On 5 September all 220 parliamentary seats will be up for election.

Over a two week period, from 7 July, the Constitutional Court went through the applications to verify that each party had the signatures of 15,000 citizens, that each candidate met the legal requirements, and that only one group would run under a party banner. The magnitude of this work was enormous considering that the judges sitting in the Court were only appointed on 24 June.

On 28 July the Constitutional Court announced that it had rejected 63 parties and 2,173 candidates. Only ten political parties and four coalitions will stand: AD-Coligacao, FNLA, FOFAC, FPD, MPLA, Nova Democracia, PADEPA, PAJOCA, PDP-ANA, PLD, PPE, PRD, PRS, and UNITA.

One of the major decisions was to exclude the faction of the historic liberation FNLA led by Lucas Ngonda. This faction has been in conflict with Ngola Kabangu’s faction since the death of FNLA founder Holden Roberto. The Constitutional Court found that Kabangu had been legally elected as leader of the party and thus rejected the attempt by Ngonda’s faction to stand in the elections as FNLA.

In a similar case, the faction of the Social Renewal Party, PRS, led by Antonio Muachicungo was rejected on the grounds that he was expelled from the PRS over a decade ago. As a result of this decision the coalition ADA, composed of the PRS (Muachicungo) and the PDPS, was also found to be illegitimate.

For the party PADEPA, the Constitutional Court found that Silva Cardoso’s faction was the legitimate heir to the party as the other “leader” Carlos Leitão was expelled from the party at a national conference in November last year.

In total, 5,198 candidates were approved, all of which can be viewed on the Court’s web site www.tribunalconstitucional.ao

Most of the rejected parties found it impossible to collect the required number of valid signatures. For example, the Angolan Communist Community Party, PCCA, submitted 4,573 signatures, of which 1,846 were found to be valid. The Court also found some of the documents presented, such as the criminal registration certificates needed from the candidates, were counterfeit.

Similarly the UTPA coalition failed to provide enough legitimate signatures, with most of those submitted lacking the necessary voter registration number to confirm identity.

Those parties that had their application rejected were unable to deal with their mistakes and omissions in the ten days set aside for corrections.

Funding for parties

Parties meeting the legal requirements to stand in the elections will now receive funding for the campaign.

Meeting on 11 July the Angolan Cabinet approved a budget of 1.2 billion kwanzas (over $16 million) to be distributed among the participating parties.

The National Electoral Commission, CNE, will distribute the funds and will also be responsible for checking that the funds are used properly.

The CNE met on 18 July to fix the criteria for the use of the funds. During that meeting the CNE also analysed the government proposal for the location and number of ballot boxes.

PRS will appear at the top of the list, followed by PLD, FPD, PDP-ANA, PPE, FNLA, PAJOCA, FOFAC, Nova Democracia, MPLA, UNITA, PADEPA, PRD and AD-Coligacao.

TV and Radio allocate equal airtime for daily party political broadcasts

Each of the 14 political parties standing in the elections have been allocated a daily allowance of five minutes on the state television network and a further ten minutes on the state radio service for party political broadcasts.

Thus an hour and ten minutes in the television schedule is now devoted daily to political parties from 19.15 hours.

The running order of the broadcasts was decided by the CNE holding a lottery on 29 July. As a result, PADEPA will broadcast their message at 19.15 followed by UNITA, FOFAC, FNLA, AD-Coligacao, PDP-ANA, PRS, PRD, MPLA, PLD, Nova Democracia, FPD, PPE and lastly PAJOCA.

In a similar vein, each party will have a daily ten-minute slot on Radio Nacional de Angola with broadcasts starting at 18.35. For this, the CNE held yet another draw with FPD having the first ten minute slot, followed by PRD, Nova Democracia, AD-Coligacao, PDP-ANA, PAJOCA, PLD, PPE, FNLA, FOFAC, PRS, UNITA, MPLA and PADEPA.

Criticism as Radio Despertar silenced

The Angolan government has faced criticism from many quarters for suspending the broadcasting licence of Radio Despertar on 8 July for 180 days the grounds that it has broken the terms of its licence agreement. Under the terms of the licence Radio Despertar is allowed to broadcast over a range of 50 kilometres. However, the broadcasting authorities found that it was broadcasting over a range 400 kilometres.

On 10 July the organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres, RSF, complained that "restricting media pluralism in the run-up to legislative elections will obstruct the necessary democratic debate", and claimed that “the measure is illegal as it has been taken under decree-law 69/97, which was voided by a new press law in 2006."

The director of Radio Despertar, Alexandre Solombe, told RSF that his station is the victim of "an electoral manoeuvre by the government in the run-up to legislative elections".

RSF claims that the radio station is “independent”. However, it is in fact the successor to UNITA’s Radio Vorgan and was born of the peace agreement between the government and UNITA signed in Lusaka in 1994. That agreement specified that Despertar was to be a non-partisan FM radio station.

The government has also come under fire for failing to allow Radio Ecclesia, which is owned by the Catholic Church, to broadcast nationwide, and for allegedly harassing journalists from the independent media. In December 2007 Armando Chicoca, a correspondent from Radio Ecclesia was convicted of “disobeying state authority” whilst reporting on a demonstration of street vendors in Namibe province. He was found not guilty of inciting revolt.

The government argues that the Media Law requires private radio stations to have a physical presence in a province in which it broadcasts, and that this is the reason why Radio Ecclesia has a limited licence.

Election to be held on one day

The Angolan parliament, the National Assembly, on 9 July confirmed that the election will be held on 5 September, with the possibility of it running over into two days in specific localities if exceptional circumstances occur. This is in line with the decision of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

There had been suggestions that the largest party, the MPLA, had misgivings over the decision, but in the end the vote in parliament was 130 in favour with one abstention.

The extended registration period, intended to add citizens to the voters roll who have become 18 years old since the first phase of registration ended in September 2007, plus an other citizens who have been missed from the voters roll for any reason, has added a further 211,554 voters.

This is much less than the expected 350,000 voters that the CNE estimated would be added to the register.

Including the second phase, which began in April, the total electorate is 8,302,657. The detailed breakdown of the electorate by province is available on the CNE website www.cne.ao/os_numeros/supervisao_final.html

European Union observers arrive

The first group of eight electoral observers from the European Union arrived in Luanda on 29 July in preparation for the arrival of the rest of the group that will eventually total 100. A core team will deal with coordinating the team’s activities including action on legal, political, media and public relations.

The core team will be joined by fifty long-term observers who will begin work in August, and 50 short-term observers who will be deployed two weeks before the elections.

The European Union was asked to provide observers by the CNE, who has also invited the African Union to send observers.

National Assembly closes

The National Assembly on 15 July met for its final plenary session before September’s elections. Any further parliamentary business will be dealt with by the Assembly’s Permanent Commission, which is made up of 15 parliamentarians from the MPLA, UNITA and PRS.

Voting stations identified

The CNE and the Inter Ministerial Commission for Electoral Process, CIPE, have agreed the number and location of voting stations for the forthcoming elections.

On 11 July the CIPE delivered its proposed location of polling stations. The proposal included details of schools and other buildings where voting stations can be set up. CIPE identified 12,400 locations where the elections will be held.

On 31 July the CNE formally received the digital version of the mapping for the polling stations, and a sample of the registration books. The CNE will shortly receive all the 12,147 registration books.

Now that the number of polling stations is verified, the urgent task is to train the electoral staff that will run the elections. The staff will receive a weeklong course covering the electoral legislation, conduct of parties and the role of observers and monitors.

In Luanda province 11,883 people will staff the voting stations. The province, which includes the capital, has 2.4 million people on the electoral register. In Sambizanga district in Luanda there will be over a thousand ballot boxes located at over 200 polling stations.

Meanwhile, in Lunda Sul province more than 3,000 staff will be trained to run polling booths for the 145,567 registered voters. In neighbouring Bie province 12,000 people are to be trained to staff the 1,200 ballot boxes, with 471,832 registered voters.

CNE approves ballot paper

The CNE on 31 July agreed to the layout of the ballot paper for the parliamentary elections. The paper will have each party’s name, initials, and symbol.

Forum holds election seminar

Preparations for Angola’s elections were the subject of a seminar held by the British Angola Forum in London on 11 July at Chatham House in London

Speakers at the seminar included Dame Margaret Anstee, who was the United Nations Secretary General’s special representative to Angola during the country’s last elections, held in 1992, Dr Liu Haifang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Lisa Rimli of Human Rights Watch, and Britain’s ambassador to Angola Pat Phillips.

Speakers agreed on the importance of these elections, Angola’s first since 1992. There was also agreement that there is little likelihood of a return to war. However, concerns were raised on the expected turnout/participation, and some contributors expressed the view that the institutions of the state were very supportive of the MPLA. Most commentators thought the MPLA is likely to win comfortably and that the elections would be an indicator for the Presidential elections in 2009.

It was revealed that Angola is Norway’s largest aid programme in Africa and that British companies are now the second largest commercial investor in Angola.

Portuguese loan to Angola

On 17 July, during a visit to Angola Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced the signing of three credit lines to Angola worth $1.7 billion.

Luanda to get new power substation

The company that supplies electricity to the capital, Luanda, announced that it is to build a substation to improve the distribution of power produced by the Capanda hydroelectric dam.

EDEL announced on 29 July that the project will cost $100 million and improve the supply to the districts of Viana, Samba, Ingombota and Sambizanga.

Paulo Jorge optimistic on elections

In an exclusive interview with the Angola Peace Monitor, the head of the MPLA’s international department, Paulo Jorge, expressed optimism that his party would be successful in the forthcoming elections.

Paulo Jorge explained that the MPLA has been preparing for these elections since 2005, and its leadership has developed “a massive mobilisation effort of its militants, sympathisers and friends”.

He explained that there have been minor changes to the Electoral Law to allow for elections to be held on a single day whilst ensuring that the following day is available if necessary. He pointed out that “due to the extent of the country, as well as possible impediments affecting the ability of citizens casting their ballot on the day, there will be the possibility of them doing so on the next day.

Paulo Jorge praised “the integrity and competence shown by the members of the CNE, CIPE and the Constitutional Court”, and stated that the MPLA is “extremely confident that the whole of the electoral process will be executed within the established time-frame”.

The Presidential election is expected to be held next year. For Jorge, the decision to not to hold the Presidential election at the same time as the parliamentary election is in line with the country’s constitution, whereby Deputies have a mandate of four years whilst the President holds office for five years.

Some commentators have suggested that the MPLA will win up to 80 per cent of the vote. According to Paulo Jorge the analysis within the MPLA, based on feedback from Party structures and polls, forecast that the MPLA will gain more than 60 per cent of the vote.

He pointed out that this election will mark the end of the Lusaka Protocol, the peace agreement signed in 1994, which provided for power sharing between the MPLA and UNITA. He stated that “in principle” the Government of Unity and National Reconstruction will cease to exist.

The Angola Peace Monitor in March carried an interview with the leader of UNITA, Isaias Samakuva, in which he revealed that UNITA had tried to take the political centre-ground, claiming to be a social democratic party despite its continuing alliance with centre-right parties internationally.

Paulo Jorge portrays the MPLA as a left of centre party, being " a national party, independent, progressive and modern, ideologically based on democratic socialism which congregates in its ranks Angolan citizens without distinction of social group, sex, skin colour, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or place of birth".

Internationally, the MPLA is a member of the Socialist International and a member of the Organisation of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America, OSPAAAL.