Luanda – MPLA denied Monday in Luanda the existence of negotiations between its party leaders and UNITA about a hypothetical political transition in Angola.
In a press conference, the Secretary for Electoral Political Affairs of MPLA’s Political Bureau, João de Almeida de Azevedo Martins “Jú Martins”, stated that the information was spread by UNITA’s leader, Adalberto da Costa Júnior.
”Not only is it serious, but the affirmation is also a blatant lie, as power is not negotiable, it is conquered” he stated.
He considered the supposed affirmations by Adalberto Costa Júnior merely “empty” and asked UNITA’s president to be more responsible in his speeches.
João de Alemeida de Azevedo Martins, confirmed having had an informal meeting in May of this year with UNITA’s leader, per his request, mediated
by the president of MPLA’s parliamentary group, Virgílio de Fontes Pereira, during which there was no mention of power transition.
“The meeting was initiated by the president of UNITA, who wanted to speak with me, and we did not have a mandate to speak about transition or anything
related, because power is not negotiated, it is conquered (…)”, he highlighted.
He added that in this meeting, which took place in a hotel in the capital of the country, they did not even have the meeting’s agenda, emphasizing that
in order to deal with these types of issue they would need to have approval of the political leadership and of the leader of the party.
According to Azevedo Martins, during the meeting with Adalberto da Costa Júnior, he latter directly asked “if we could live in a country governed by
him”, noting that the current president of UNITA anticipates winning the general elections.
Jú Martins, revealed, there having been created false ideas that the opposition, in particular UNITA, would be in good position to win the
general elections on the 24th of August.
According to the politician, this resulted, in part, in the fact that the at the end of 2019, 2020, and for the most part of 2021, MPLA, out of respect
for legal provisions which determined the confinement and non-performance of public acts, having carried out few notable activities.
He added that as soon as the restrictions were lifted, “it was noticeable that MPLA never lost its ability to mobilize and propagate message”.
Fake polls
On the other hand, he revealed that they alerted the leader of UNITA that it is not wise to publish false polls that did not have a technical file and
without scientific sustainability pointing towards UNITA’s advantageous performance.
Regarding the presence of the deceased voters on the citizen’s registers, the Secretary of MPLA’s Political Bureau for Electoral Political affairs,
noted that the issue of publication of electoral rolls and the elimination of them is a false stilted element to try to discredit the electoral
process.
