Luanda – Angolan President, João Lourenço, will deliver a message to the country on Monday, in Luanda, on the State of the Nation, marking the solemn plenary session that serves to open the 2023-2024 parliamentary year.
João Lourenço will address a message to the country on the State of the Nation and the plans outlined for resolving the main problems, promoting the well-being of Angolans and the development of the country, as enshrined in article 118 of the Constitution of the Republic.
To recall that this will be the seventh time that the President will address the nation since taking office, and the second time in his second mandate.
The National Assembly (Angolan parliament) postponed the final voting of the draft law on VAT reduction in the previous legislative year due to lack of consensus with the opposition parties which were defending a zero rate for products in the basic food basket.
The Bill on the Institutionalisation of Local elections is the only one that is left to complete. It has already been approved in general terms by the Parliament, but it still needs to be analyzed in the specialised committees and then the final overall vote.
The aforementioned draft law, which had been put on hold to give precedence to the revision of the Constitution in 2021, has now been approved by Parliament by a consensus of 90%.
The National Assembly is a legislative body made up of 220 MPs elected in the August 2022 General Elections, in which 130 deputies are elected by proportional representation in national constituencies, 90 deputies are elected by provincial constituencies, with 5 deputies elected in each province.
The Legislature comprises five Legislative Sessions or parliamentary years, with each Legislative Session starting on 15 October and lasting one year, without jeopardising the breaks provided for by law.
The period of effective functioning of the National Assembly is 10 months and ends on 15 August of the following year.
Outside the period of effective functioning, the Parliament may function extraordinarily by decision of the Plenary, by convocation of the Standing Committee or, if this is impossible, and in an emergency, on the initiative of more than half of the MPs in full exercise of their functions.
In the 5th Legislature of the National Assembly (2022-2027), which emerges from the fifth General Elections in the country, the 220 MPs come from five political parties, namely Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), Social Renewal Party (PRS) and Humanist Party of Angola (PHA).
The results of the August 2022 General Elections enabled MPLA to elect 124 deputies, UNITA 90, and the PRS, FNLA and PHA two deputies each.
DC/VIC/VM/MRA/jmc
