Angola Postpones Parliament Session to Swear-in Elections Head
The Parliament of Angola, Africa’s largest crude producer after Nigeria, canceled a session today that would have sworn in the head of a national elections commission whom opposition parties have rejected.
Suzana Nicolau Ingles, a former judge, was appointed Jan. 18 by the southwest African country’s Magistrates Superior Council to oversee the first national election since 1992 to include votes for the presidency.
The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, postponed the session until tomorrow because of “technical reasons,” Samuel Daniel, first secretary of the Parliament Bureau, told reporters in Luanda, the capital. Daniel declined to provide more information.
The opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or Unita, said Jan. 19 it will challenge Ingles’s appointment in court because she doesn’t meet a law requiring her to be a judge and have 10 year’s experience on the bench. She is also a “senior member” of the MPLA’s women’s league, according to Unita’s Facebook page.
A call to the electoral commission today seeking comment was not answered.
“The appointment of Ingles does not comply with what the constitution or even the electoral law says, so it’s natural that the opposition parties are critical,” Vicente Pinto de Andrade, a politics professor at the Catholic University in Luanda, said in a telephone interview. “It’s about image; the MPLA doesn’t want to be seen as violating the law.”
Private Talks
Members of the MPLA and Unita went into closed-door discussions today and representatives declined to comment. The MPLA holds 181 seats in the 220-member National Assembly. Unita has 16 seats.
National elections that could test the 32-year regime of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Africa’s second longest- serving ruler, are scheduled to be held by Sept. 5. Ballots held for parliamentary seats in 2008 didn’t include the presidency. Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has served about a month longer than dos Santos.
Angola’s crude production will reach 1.8 million barrels a day this quarter from 1.7 million barrels in December, Oil Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said on Dec. 6. Companies such as ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), BP Plc (BP) and Total SA (TOT) operate in its ultra-deep waters.
To contact the reporters on this story: Candido Mendes in Luanda at cmendes6@bloomberg.net Colin McClelland in Toronto at cmcclelland1@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page