Published on: 01/09/2022 – 21:06 The main opposition party in Angola announced on Thursday that it had filed an appeal to challenge by legal means the results of the legislative elections giving victory to the ruling party and a second term to the outgoing president, Joao Lourenço. The opposition intends to challenge the results of the latest polls in Angola. The main party announced on Thursday, September 1, that it had lodged an appeal concerning the results of the legislative election giving victory to the ruling party and a second term for outgoing President, Joao Lourenço. “The appeal to contest the final results was filed today today (Thursday)” at the national electoral commission, Faustino Mumbika, national secretary of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), told AFP. The procedure for contesting the results of an election provides that the legal recourse must first be lodged with the electoral commission before the constitutional court decides. In power since independence from Portugal in 1975, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) won 51.17% of the vote, according to the results of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) published on Monday, against 43.95% for the first opposition party, Unita. by Adalberto Costa Junior, 60, claims “not to have been informed of the decision” of the CNE to endorse the final results, nor received a “copy of the minutes of the counting”.Doubts about the electoral processFour of the 16 members of the CNE did not sign the final results, expressing doubts about the electoral process. concerned about the risk of fraud at the polls in last Wednesday. Foreign observers expressed last week “concerns” about the electoral lists in particular. The opposition had already disputed preliminary results published last week, which also gave the MPLA the winner. Less than half of the approximately 14.4 million registered voters took part in the vote, where eight parties were in the running. There is no presidential election in Angola, the head of the list of the winning party in the legislative elections is invested with the functions of head of state. The opposition had already contested the results of the elections in 2017. The victory of the MPLA and Joao Lourenço, then designated successor to the country’s former strongman José Eduardo dos Santos, had been confirmed. With AFP