Angolan Constitutional Court extinguishes two political parties

The Constitutional Court declared the political parties National Patriotic Alliance (APN) and Nationalist Party for Justice (P-Njango) in Angola extinct, for failing to reach 0.5% of the total valid votes in the general elections of 24 August.

The plenary of advisory judges of the Constitutional Court (TC) in judgments 789/2022 and 790/2022 orders the cancellation of the registration of the two political forces and determines that their competent statutory bodies proceed with their liquidation within a period of 90 days, with the activity of the directorates and other bodies to limit themselves to what is strictly necessary to carry out the liquidation process under the terms of the law.

Regarding the APN, legalized on October 13, 2015, the judgment states that it participated in the general elections on August 24 and did not obtain the percentage of valid votes required by law.

The APN considered unconstitutional paragraph i) of number 4 of article 33 of the Law on Political Parties, “by imposing as a cause for the extinction of political parties the failure to obtain 0.5% of the total votes cast in elections”.

“In view of the above, this court understands that the defendant resorts to an interpretation that disregards the rules of normative interpretation that the legislator enshrined in paragraph 1 of article 9 of the Angolan Civil Code. This rule determines that the ‘interpretation does not must stick to the letter of the law, but reconstruct the legislative thought from the texts, taking into account, above all, the unit of the legal system in which the law is elaborated and the specific conditions of the time in which it is applied’,” reads the document.

The plenary of TC judges emphasizes that it found and considered proven that the APN participated in the general elections and obtained 30,139 votes at national level, corresponding to 0.48% of the votes validly cast, so that the conditions for its extinction are met.

With regard to P-Njango, legalized on May 23, it participated in the general elections this year, but did not reach the 0.5% of the valid votes required by law, having obtained 26,867 votes at national level, corresponding to 0.4% of the votes validly expressed.

In the judgments, the plenary of TC judges emphasizes that the Political Parties Law establishes that one of the causes for the extinction of a political party is the failure, in an electoral process, by the party alone or in coalition, of at least 0.5% validly cast votes.

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), winner of the suffrage, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Angolan Humanist Party (PHA), National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and Social Renewal Party (PRS) participated in the general elections of 24 August 2022, all with parliamentary seats.

Also participating were the parties APN and P-Njango and the coalition of parties Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola – Coligação Eleitoral (CASA-CE).

With information from Notícias ao Minuto

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