Angola: Electoral fraud has been in the making since last year – activist

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Angola: Electoral fraud has been in the making since last year – activist

9:49 CAT | 28 Jun 2022

File photo: Lusa

Portuguese-Angolan activist Luaty Beirão said on Monday that the fraud of the Angolan general elections next August 24 “has been in the making since last year” and the ongoing activities are “preparatory acts for the evasion of popular sovereignty”.

“The fraud is prepared and is declared and only those who do not want to see it are the ones who do not see it, because all the contracting deeds were abusive, they violated the Public Contracting Law, Indra, the company of “Kopelipa” (former head of the Military House of the President of the Republic in the José Eduardo dos Santos era) to do ballot box transportation,” he said today in statements to Lusa.

For Luaty Beirão, the “fraudulent actions” also include the company Sinfic, “which managed the database of registered voters in the diaspora, without the embassies having access to these data of registered citizens.”

“Everything that is being done, and this now of the lists of registered people that have not been published, are more than evident indications of an intention to control how the results are going to be presented,” he said.

According to the activist, the construction of the headquarters of the Angolan National Electoral Commission (CNE) on the perimeter of the presidential palace and the change in the electoral law are part of the “fraudulent package” of the upcoming Angolan elections.

“Everything has been done, and only those who do not want to see do not see it, for us to once again be the target of previously cooked and presented results that we will have to swallow as final results,” he criticised.

“Because it will be the official version of these results, all, as civil society, that we try to do is provide enough information to show that there is this manipulation and to give an idea of what the results would be if the elections were transparent,” he maintained.

The activist also criticised the public tenders promoted by the CNE, considering them “a big hoax”, and the “silence” of the president of the electoral body in not responding to his request for accreditation for electoral observation in more than 15 days.

“We have already written to the CNE and got no response, the law obliges the president of the CNE to respond in 15 days, he has never responded, so the law is for whom after all? Who is it that has to comply”, he questioned.

Luaty Beirão reiterated that “the fraud is done and will be consummated on 24 August and then it will be sealed with the announcement of the results that they want to give”.

The CNE announced on Friday that it will issue election observation invitations to nine international organisations, namely the European Union (EU), African Union, Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the US Carter Center.

Invitations to observe Angola’s general elections will also be issued to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the Forum of Electoral Commissions of SADC countries and the Conference of African Jurisdictions.

In the opinion of the well-known activist of the 15+2 process, the invitations made to the EU and the Carter Centre of the United States “are cynical” because, he justified, these entities “have shown a willingness to participate, but requested an invitation more time ago because they needed to get organised”.

“They need to organise, prepare teams and release funds. This cannot be done 60 days before the elections. They (international organisations) explained at length the reasons for that early invitation. The Carter Institute this year didn’t even bother because of the spin they gave them in 2017, when they showed interest,” remarked the activist.

The general elections in Angola, the fifth elections in the country’s political history, are scheduled for 24 August.

Source: Lusa