ANGOLA: Opposition protests composition of electoral body

JOHANNESBURG, 14 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Angola's main opposition party, UNITA, on Thursday said it would continue to push for greater representation on the country's proposed National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Opposition parties walked out of a parliamentary commission on Tuesday to protest the lack of consensus on the composition of the CNE, which is to oversee preparations for landmark general elections expected to take place in 2006.

"We are not saying that the representatives on the commission should have UNITA sympathies, but we want there to be fair representation of all sectors of society. As it stands, the MPLA [ruling party] will have full control of the commission - this is unacceptable, because it is important that everyone feels as if they are part of the electoral process," UNITA public administration secretary, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN.

He pointed out that the future CNE would have 11 members, nearly two-thirds of them appointed by President Eduardo Dos Santos.

"We would like to see equal representation for each of the parties in parliament - the MPLA can also have its representatives, but we must also include civil society and the church," Sakala said.

Observers have commented that transparency and a clearly defined role for an independent electoral commission are vital if Angola is to avoid the mistakes made during its last national poll more than a decade ago.

"Given that Angolan politics have been extremely polarised, it would be ideal if issues pertaining to the next election were approved by broad consensus. The risk is that if the electoral process is continually contested, it will only create further confusion among the population, especially when the political temperature heats up closer to the poll date," commented Martinho Chachiua of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa.

Although the composition of the CNE would be largely at the discretion of the president, it was important that the selection process should be transparent.

"There should be some kind of mechanism which ensures that opposition parties have the right to object to an appointment to the commission - of course, with legitimate reason. Without a number of checks and balances in place, the government will be faced with continuos criticism over its role in the election," he said.

UNITA holds just 70 seats in the 223-seat assembly. The last general election was held in 1992 but was rejected by UNITA, which returned to war against the ruling MPLA. The 27-year conflict finally ended in April 2002.

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