Luanda – With only 19 days until the fifth general elections of the country, on the 24th of August, hundreds of Luanda citizens do not yet know, for various reasons, the place where they will be casting their vote.
According to official data, Luanda, the largest electoral pool in the country, counts on 4,671,000 voters (37%) out of more than 14 million
registered voters throughout the country.
After a round in various parts of the country’s capital, especially in the peripheral region, ANGOP found that many voters have not yet engaged with
the tools available to get to know their assembly of vote.
The reasons, claim the people interviewed by ANGOP, vary from “let’s leave it for the last minute”, carelessness, lack of interest, lack of
information, and lack of technological means to access the respective data.
The National Electoral Commission (CNE) made available to citizen voters three ways to check their polling place: on its website (cne.ao), via SMS
(40114) and with electoral civic education agents on the streets.
Via SMS, free of charge, send the ID number or Electoral card number to 40114. Afterwards, the voter receives a message containing their name and
surname, polling station, voting table number, page number in the electoral book, and the line where it is entered in the electoral book.
On its website (cne.ao), once opened, look for the tab “where to vote” and insert date of birth and ID number, and click search.
With the more than six thousand electoral civic education agents across the country, the steps are the same, with the difference that the electoral
agents make the operation, and the voter is responsible for providing personal data.
Voter, Victor João, unemployed, said that he does not yet know where he’ll vote, but he is certain that he will know the details of the location before
the elections.
When asked about the reason why he does not learn about it now, he stated that he does not know how, seeing that he has been without a phone for over
a month.
Engrácia Eduardo, street vendor, explained that she will vote, but first she needs help from the electoral civic education agents in order to know her
voting station.
“(…) I was with one of the agents, but did not have my ID with me”, she explained.
The auto-electrician, Agostinho Capitão, resident of the municipality of Belas, stated that he will vote in a school near his house.
With 33 years of age, he added that he did not have any problems finding the polling station, as he made use of the SMS system.
At Luther Rescova Avenue, Talatona, a group of 10 youths over the age of 18 years, working as taxi passengers caller said that they do not know where
they will vote.
ELECTORAL CIVIC EDUCATION AGENTS
After the first group explained the importance of the elections to citizens, the agents in this phase are helping voters to locate their polling
stations.
According to agent Sabrita Gonga, people are perceptive and receive all the information, however, many times, they do not bring with them personal
documents (Identity Card or Voter Card) to complete the process.
He clarified that they are currently informing and encouraging voters to verify how their electoral data were entered.
With more than six members, the team of electoral agent Julieta Joaquim, located in the Catintom market, Maianga, per day speaks to more than 200
citizens to inform, with the help of tablets, the place of voting.
"Since we started this second phase, almost two weeks ago, we have already helped more than two thousand people", informed the leader of the group.
Eva Afonso, agent at Largo da Teixeira, Cassequel, said that the process of geolocation of polling stations in this district is being successful.
For the elections of August 24, 2022, 14,399,000 people are registered to vote, of which 22,560 are in the diaspora.
MPLA, UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS, FNLA, PHA, APN and P-NJANGO compete for 2022 elections, the fifth, after 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017.
