Luanda – The regulation related to the organization and functioning of the Scrutiny Centre for the general elections scheduled for 24 August was approved Monday, in Luanda, by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
According to the CNE spokesperson, Lucas Quilundo, who spoke at the end of an extraordinary plenary meeting said that the regulation was adequate to the amendments to the Organic Law on General Elections which are contained in Law 30/21 of 30 November 2021.
The official said that the Scrutiny Centre is a CNE structure that specially operates in electoral periods with the particularity that it collects the summary records and other information from Polling Stations, which information is processed to provide the CNE Plenary with permanent updated data on the tallying of the votes at the polling stations countrywide.
Lucas Quilundo added that in the extraordinary plenary meeting it was also assessed and approved the accreditation and performance of the media outlets and journalists in election coverage.
He recalled that under article 109 of the Organic Law on General Elections, voters or citizens are not allowed to remain in the Polling Stations after voting.
“Considering the relevant social role and public interest that the Media have, within the framework of the electoral process, the plenary approved the regulation to essentially allow journalists to remain in the Polling Stations, even when they have already voted or when they are not voters”, informed the official.
The CNE spokesperson clarified that in this regard “the understanding of non-voter has to do with the fact that the coverage of the process is open to all journalists, whether national or foreign, and since the latter are not voters, they would find it difficult to remain in the Polling Stations, because the law establishes the general principle that only voters should go to these polling stations”.
This year's elections, which will have the participation of Angolans in the diaspora for the first time, are the fifth ones in Angola´s history.
Roughly 14.399 million voters are expected to cast ballots, including 22,560 abroad.
However, the overseas voting will take place in 12 countries and 25 cities, namely in South Africa (Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg), Namibia (Windhoek, Oshakati and Rundu), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Matadi), Republic of Congo (Brazzaville, Dolisie and Ponta Negra), Zambia (Lusaka, Mongu, Solwezi), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Sao Paulo), Germany (Berlin), Belgium (Brussels), France (Paris), United Kingdom (London), Portugal (Lisbon, Porto) and in Netherlands (Rotterdam).
The previous ballot was contested on 23 August 2017 by six political forces, with the participation of 76,57% of about 9.3 million registered voters.
MPLA won with an absolute majority with 61% of votes, ahead of UNITA with 26,67% and CASA-CE with 9,44%.
