Municipal elections scheduled for September or November 2024- CNE

Maria do Rosário advanced this information in an exclusive interview with Inforpress, explaining that the last elections took place in October, “gives a basis” that the next elections will take place in this period and that it is up to the Government to indicate the concrete date.

Regarding the restitution meeting with the delegates, which takes place during these two days, the 13th and 14th, to assess the 2020/2021 electoral cycle and the preparations for the next elections, Maria do Rosário stressed that it is part of the activity plan for 2023 , whose objective is to collect “valuable contributions and subsidies” for the improvement of assistance for the 2024 elections.

“The CNE considered that the 2020/2021 electoral cycle was in an atypical context in the sense that we held three elections during a pandemic that brought immense challenges, which were all overcome, so we understand that it was an electoral cycle with many lessons learned that if capitalized will help organize the 2024 election process in the best way”, he advanced, adding that the meeting with the delegates is only the first of several to be held during this month.

“Today we are holding this meeting, we also propose to meet with political parties, civil society organizations, the media, the National Police, to see the execution and organization from the perspective of the actors, absorbing the contributions and collaborations to make a process more robust and with quality”, he added.

In total, there are 22 delegates in each municipality and 21 abroad, he said, revealing that the CNE is unaware of the constraints, because "they are the ones on the ground" and often it is not possible to give a timely response during the period of carrying out and managing the process. electoral process, above all, for delegates from the diaspora, “where there are greater complexities”.

“For national delegates, considering they are in the same space, communication is more fluid and we are able to respond more quickly to needs and concerns and resolve complaints. For the diaspora, the first complexity is mainly due to the difficulties of members and coordinators traveling abroad during the electoral period, not benefiting from close monitoring of their activities and not always having answers in a timely manner”, he explained.

“We hope to have valuable contributions to better organize the process, especially in terms of logistics, operationalization of the elections and the difficulties faced by delegates in monitoring, executing and articulating with political parties, since not all of them have effective representation abroad”, he reiterated. .

During the 2021 elections, he guaranteed, it was possible to introduce measures, namely virtual meetings, promote training of delegates, but also online tabulations.

“We also tried to carry out the electoral tabulation online, which was of great value, since we often have difficulty receiving material from abroad, which causes a delay in carrying out the general tabulation. We managed to do the tabulation for Angola in the past elections through the Times, and it solved the problem of recovering the electoral material in time”, he advanced.

With the political parties, he continued, they intend to listen to the challenges faced in the past elections, given the limitations imposed during the restrictions in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, especially in electoral campaigns.

According to the president of the CNE, a “structured” plan is expected to be drawn up for the 2024 elections, which, she assured, will be able to incorporate the wishes of organizations and political parties.

“We want a global plan that can be implemented at the level of each municipality, municipality, and country abroad. The CNE considers that a plan conceived and organized at a central level is not feasible without the involvement of the actors”, he observed.