Africa-Press – Angola. The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, defended the conclusion and approval of the laws of the municipal process in the National Assembly (AN) so that, later, he can announce a date for the holding of local elections.
The Statesman defended this position in an exclusive interview with the Portuguese newspaper Expresso and the Lusa agency, released this Friday (2).
In this regard, he also highlighted the need to create the material, financial and organizational capabilities so that they can take place later, and for this reason it is “risky to talk about dates”.
“Sometimes I get tired with these kinds of questions. When will there be local elections? I cannot call municipal elections without it being based on the law ”she emphasized.
Without blaming political formations for the fact, he argued that in any democratic State of law there must first be the law.
Regarding openness to dialogue with other political formations, the statesman said that he has always been available for this purpose in relation to different subjects, people and organizations, including the opposition.
As an example, he said he had already received the leader of UNITA, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, at the Presidential Palace, after the 2022 elections, at his request.
For the President of the Republic, despite this fact, “it is true that one does not have to accept all issues, such as what is happening in relation to municipal power, where political formations are in different positions. They defend the simultaneous holding of 164 municipal elections and we say that it is not realistic”.
He also argued that for a country with the characteristics of Angola, which has never had municipalities, having them simultaneously throughout the territory is unrealistic, which is the main point of contention.
President João Lourenço also expressed his disagreement with the statements that there is little freedom of demonstration in Angola and that citizenship is called into question.
From his point of view, “there are even excesses in the exercise of this freedom of expression, since in the country there are street demonstrations practically every week and the police react when they have to react”.
He also stressed that there have been peaceful demonstrations, without the need for the police to intervene, and that for this reason he does not understand how it is that in large democracies, where quite violent police charges are often recorded, they are not referred to in the same way.
He argued that, in Angola, “if there is a police charge, they don’t call it a police charge, they call it another, uglier name. Nobody wants to treat their own citizens badly. Those who demonstrate are our citizens, they are our children, they are our brothers and the police are there in the demonstration precisely to protect them”.
In relation to some manifestations of discontent in the country by certain social or socio-professional classes, he said that these rights are contemplated in the Constitution and in the Law.
“Democracy is like that, isn’t that how you say it? And if it were the other way around, and if the regime did not allow demonstrations, what would they say? If it was like in the past? Was it better as it was before?”, she asked.
When questioned about the process of national reconciliation, in relation to the victims of the conflicts, in relation to which some family members try to question the process of identifying the mortal remains, João Lourenço stated that “when bodies are exhumed and the remains are submitted mortals to DNA tests is precisely to confirm whose remains are.”
“And this confirmation may or may not work. So there will definitely be cases where certain remains are thought to be either the A family or the B family, and the examination turns out not to be. This is absolutely normal. Now, one cannot, from there, come to say that it was the intention of the Government to deceive A or B”, he concluded.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
