Elections2022: Electoral Commission with no complaints submitted by parties

 Luanda - The National Electoral Commission (CNE) said Saturday night that it had not officially received any complaint submitted by any political party regarding the latest provisional results of the August 24 elections.

Speaking to local and foreign media outlets, the CNE spokesperson, Lucas Quilundo, said that in case any complaint is submitted, the Electoral Commission has the legal duty to analise them and decide in the terms of the law.

 

The CNE spokesman added that it is not up to the CNE to set up the deadline for complaints to be submitted, underlining that those who want to use this right should know the opportunity and the moment that this exercise should be done.

 

"The National Electoral Commission has no official complaint from any political formation contesting the general elections", Mr Quilundo said, arguing that the legal deadlines for submission of complaints should be known by the contestants.

 

The Electoral Commission is still working, and the law establishes that the referred commission must divulge the definitive results, up to 15 days after the date of the elections, with 10 days left for this effect.

 

Lucas Quilundo clarified that the final results of the elections will be released when the CNE plenary has in its possession all the reports and other information regarding the votes claimed at the polling stations.

 

"These complaints should be resolved as soon as the polling stations have closed", Quilundo said, underscoring that the provisional totals are no longer relevant, according to the last communication of results released, which show that only 2.7% of the votes are left to be scrutinized. 

 

In relation to the division of the deputies and the totals of the entire electoral process, he considers it to be fundamental as the CNE deliberates on the claimed votes.

 

"It is always possible that, depending on the magnitude of the claimed votes, some alterations may eventually occur," the spokesman said.

 

As for the complaint made by the Unita party, the spokesman reiterated that the work that the CNE has started does not have to do, solely, with the complaint of this political formation, but, rather, of a proper legal duty that is to resolve and decide on the claimed votes.

 

For the CNE, the tallying of final results has as a preliminary element the resolution of the ballots claimed at the polling stations which are submitted to the Provincial Electoral Commissions (CPE), and these in turn have their report submitted to the CNE.

 

Commissioners Dissociate Themselves  

As for the parallel meeting held on Saturday by five CNE commissioners, the spokesman said that the meeting which approved the provisional results was attended by all members and the results were unanimously approved without protests.

 

According to the spokesman, the five political commissioners, all have free access and an equal accreditation, with a "green pass" in all areas of the CNE and the Scrutiny Centre.

 

"There is no impediment," Quilundo said, adding that maintaining such behaviour depends only on the commissioners, recalling that the plenaries are mandatory in terms of participation.

 

"Those members who are not present have a reasonable period of time under the terms of the internal regulations to justify their absences", he stressed, without advancing a possibility that the five commissioners may be sanctioned.

 

So far, the CNE has released final provisional data showing 97.03 of votes counted.

 

MPLA remains in the lead with 51.7 percent, a percentage that enables it to elect 124 deputies, followed by UNITA with 44.5 percent, equivalent to 90 deputies.

 

PRS, FNLA and PHA manage to elect two deputies each, while CASA-CE, APN and P-NJANGO have no chance to elect deputies. 

 

In these 2022 elections, the provisional abstention figure stands at 54.35 percent.