Dundo - The Episcopal Conference of Angola and Sao Tome (CEAST) has highlighted the environment of peace, tolerance and stability during the ongoing electoral campaign in the country, ahead of the 24 August general elections.
CEAST President, Bishop José Manuel Imbambahe, made the praises on Thursday while speaking to the press on the upcoming elections.
The Catholic prelate noted that the "Angolans are showing in this campaign political and democratic maturity, preserving peace and unity, despite ideological differences.
"In this campaign, we are witnessing a high moment of our citizenship, fraternity, where we must emphasise, above all, the atmosphere of peace, harmony, of fraternity and tolerance among the citizens." He said
Dom Imbamba appealed to the leaders of the political parties to moderate their speeches, mainly in these last days of the campaign, avoiding personal attacks and the promotion of intolerance.
"The speeches being delivered, in some cases, go beyond the reality, beyond common sense. We need to be realistic, objective, and know well the environment in which we live and the people we are promising, the circumstances in which these people live and the impediments that cause development to be increasingly delayed," he stressed.
Roughly, 14.3 million voters including 22,560 residing abroad are ellegible to cast their ballot papers.
Seven political parties and one coalition are running for the fifth general elections.
They are MPLA, UNITA, PRS, FNLA, APN, P-NJANGO and PHA, as well as the CASA-CE coalition.
