Luanda – The Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Manuel da Silva, predicted this Monday that on the 24th, this Wednesdy, Angolans will flock to the polling stations to vote and respect public institutions.
In an interview with “Jornal de Angola” daily newspaper, Manuel da Silva stated that he believes that after the official results of the provisional and final tallying of the votes are announced the world will know that Angola is a democracy in full force.
On the other hand, he praised the high level of civility shown by Angolans during the electoral campaign.
INDRA
He explained that Indra, the company that won the public tender to support the election process with the technical solution, never received any judicial complaint in Angola, nor in another part of the world where it helped to organize electoral processes.
Indra, he maintained, is a company with over 40 years of
experience in elections and developed more than 450 national and
international electoral projects, with more than 4 billion voters involved.
"There was an international public tender, with one winner, and it is with this one that we have to work and also it is one of the main technological suppliers in the electoral field worldwide", he reinforced.
On the transparency of the process, he said that in addition to the national and foreign observers, the technological solution service is submitted for an independent audit.
The official made it known that more than 100,000 people are involved in the process, with seven thousand technicians and 120,000 people collaborating.
Manuel da Silva pointed out that more than 95 percent of the staff working in the project is of national origin and the contracted company is required to give training.
Cyberattacks
The CNE head assured that the institution and its partners are aware of safety standards regulations, master best practices, and apply measures of maximum security to minimize possible incidents.
For the official, "it is obvious, security measures are not made public precisely to prevent them from becoming ineffective".
He explained that the CNE has taken the necessary precautions so that any possible attacks are promptly repelled.
Transparency
Manuel Pereira da Silva said that the technological solution covers provisional counting and definitive scrutiny of the General Elections, as well as the providing of accurate information about the general situation and incidences of the process.
The same solution, he underlined, will guarantee compliance with the transparency and security.
He concluded that the only entity with legal competence to deal with the national tabulation and release the official provisional and definitive results is the CNE.
For the August 24 general elections, 14,399,000 citizens are registered to vote, of which 22,560, residing abroad, spread over 25 cities from 12 countries in Africa, Europe and South America.
Running in this year’s election are MPLA, UNITA, PRS, FNLA, APN, PHA and P-NJANGO and the CASA-CE coalition.
Angola holds its fifth general elections, after those held in 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017.
