The Angola Constitutional Court dismissed on Monday a claim by the opposition party leader, UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, challenging the election results after the Country’s Electoral Commission declared the ruling party the winner.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola filed the claim on the basis that the announced results did not match the tallying at their polling center.
The Electoral Commission announced the former President, Joāo Lourenço under the Movement for the Liberation of Angola with 51.17% and the runners up, UNITA with 43.95%.
“I hope that the Constitutional Court accepts the Provisional Measure that we have interposed so that the truth of the votes prevails and shows the Angolan people that the MPLA did not win the elections.” Said UNITA leader, Adalberto Costa Júnior.
According to a press conference held on Monday by the UNITA leader, they parallel count showed they got 49.5% and MPLA with 48.2%. He further explained 347,436 votes were “deducted” from UNITA in about 15 provincial constituencies and 185,825 added to the ruling party, MPLA, in about 16 provincial constituencies.
“The data collected by the UNITA (parallel) counting … reveal huge and unacceptable differences from those published by the CNE (electoral commission),” Costa Junior said. The discrepancies indicate willful manipulation of the results, he added.
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Both parties are former rebel movements that fought the Portuguese, where MPLA won and brought about Marxist rule after the country gained independence.