Africa-Press – Angola. The National Electoral Commission (CNE) carries out, today, the draw for the positioning of the political formations in the Voting Bulletin of the General Elections of August 24, announced, Tuesday (12), in Luanda, the institution’s spokesman, at the end of an extraordinary meeting.
Lucas Quilundo explained that the plenary met following the reception of the final lists of competing political forces, delivered yesterday by the Constitutional Court, having scheduled, for today, the holding of the draw for the positioning of political parties and the electoral coalition in the Voting Bulletin.
He also informed that the draw will also be held to define the use of airtime on radio and television during the electoral campaign, as well as the definition of the grid for the use of these same airtime.
The activity, which takes place in the new premises of the CNE, counts on the presence of the representatives of the lists and guests. From now on, he added, the political forces will take on the status of competitors, and they will know their place in the Voting Ballot.
To run for the General Elections, eight political forces, namely MPLA, UNITA, FNLA, PRS, Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), National Patriotic Alliance (APN) and CASA-CE, presented candidacies to the Constitutional Court.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE), after receiving the final lists, must convene, within 48 hours, the representatives of the parties to carry out the drawing of the position in the Voting Ballot, according to the legal amendment.
This year’s elections, which will have the participation of Angolan citizens in the diaspora for the first time, are the fifth in the country’s history, after those in 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017. More than 14.399 million voters are expected, of which 22,560 abroad.
Overseas voting will take place in 12 countries and 26 cities, such as South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg), Namibia (Windhoek, Oshakati and Rundu) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Matadi).
Also on the African continent, Angolans residing in Congo (Brazzaville, Dolisie and Ponta Negra) and Zambia (Lusaka, Mongu, Kolwezi) will be able to vote.
Outside the continent, voting will be open to the Angolan diaspora in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and São Paulo), in Germany (Berlin), in Belgium (Brussels), in France (Paris), in the United Kingdom (London) , in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto) and in the Netherlands (Rotterdam).
The previous vote was contested, on 23 August 2017, by six political forces, with the participation of 76.57 percent of the approximately 9.3 million registered voters.
Constitutional Court
With the delivery of the final lists to the CNE yesterday, the first stage of the Constitutional Court’s intervention in the electoral process is concluded.
In this sense, the institution will only intervene again in the electoral dispute phase of the General Elections of 24 August, and will be called in later phases, after the publication of the final electoral results by the National Electoral Commission.
The delivery of the file by the president of the Constitutional Court to the president of the National Electoral Commission takes place, following the preparatory acts for the holding of the General Elections, after the “successful” conclusion of the process of verification and validation of candidates for the elections.
It should be remembered that the Constitutional Court did not, during the verification period, file any challenge against the competing candidacies. At the time, the president of the Constitutional Court told Lusa that the deadline for contesting any list or candidate ended without any objections being presented.
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