By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The main opposition political party in Angola, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has said it will challenge the September 24 election that produced the incumbent President João Lourenço as winner in constitutional court, insisting that the electoral umpire, National Electoral Commission erred in declaring Lourenço winner.
In a recorded video on Tuesday, the UNITA secretary, Alvaro Chikwamanga Daniel said, “The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola does not recognise the results of the national electoral commission (CNE) and will file an appeal that will have the effect of suspending the declaration of the final results”.
The party said it had “not been informed of the decision” of the commission to ratify the results, and had not received “a copy of the minutes of the count”.
The candidates have 72 hours after the announcement of the results to refer the matter to the constitutional court and contest.
The electoral commission, CNE had declared Lourenço of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA winner of the after it polled 51.17% of the vote, leaving the UNITA with 43.95% of the votes cast.
The party had already contested the preliminary results last week.
Four of the 16 members of the NEC did not sign the final results, expressing doubts about the electoral process.
Less than half of the estimated 14.4 million registered voters took part in the election.
MPLA has been in power since independence from Portugal in 1975. In 2017, the party won by a landslide with 61% of the vote, representing its lowest score ever.
