Growing unease over lack of readiness for elections

With less than a year to go before Angola's first post-war elections, there are growing concerns over whether the country is moving quickly enough to be ready in time. The ballot is expected to take place in September 2006, although no exact date has been set, and the president can leave it until 90 days prior to the vote before making the date public. Politicians and members of civil society point out that there has not been much progress in preparation for the poll since the swearing in of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) at the end of August. "You can do voter registration in time if you put real money behind it, put helicopters behind it," said one foreign NGO worker in Luanda. "But since the CNE was sworn in, you are not getting the impression they [elections] will be in 2006. They are [the CNE] just sitting back now sipping their coffees," the source added. The CNE is made up of 11 members, three of which are nominated by the ruling MPLA, three by opposition parties and five by the government, leading to concerns over a possible MPLA-bias. But even government officials admitted that the deadline was going to be a squeeze. "It is going to be tight in the sense that there are a lot of administrative tasks ahead that need to be performed by the National Electoral Commission," said Deputy Prime Minister Aguinaldo Jaime. The government has said it would take just three months to register voters, but with Angola's roads and bridges in tatters after a 27-year civil war, landmines scattered across its plains and the onset of the rainy season, some said it would take a lot longer. "I think that [three months] is unrealistic. It would more likely take five months because of the difficulties," said one aid worker. "There are communities nobody even knows exist. Recently, during the Marburg crisis in Uige [northern province], they were finding communities that were not even on the administrative map," the source added. Former rebel and now largest opposition party UNITA said it was still on track for a 2006 ballot but admitted that the preparations were moving at a snail's pace. "Things are going very slowly, too slowly. The electoral commission was approved in August. They need to speed things up so we can see something moving to reach these objectives," said Alcides Sakala, UNITA's parliamentary group president. Provincial CNE officials have also voiced their concerns: "If we have elections in 2006 we have to rush a lot. It depends on the means put at the disposal of the local commissions by the central government. We don't have a budget yet. We are waiting for the money, the cars, the means to do our job here," said one, based outside the capital, Luanda. The government has not appealed for any help from the international community on the electoral process, which has also prompted concern among some observers that the state might try to stall the date. But others said this was a sign that the government wanted to act as independently as possibly. "Most countries, if given the chance, will do things on their own, go their own sovereign way when they can," said one donor source. "I suspect they are going to show the world that they can do it themselves and that closer to the date they will have identified gaps and will ask for assistance when needed," the source added. The ballot is seen as key for establishing democracy in Angola after the civil war ended in April 2002. But observers say the political stakes are also enormous in an election which is essentially a contest between historical rivals UNITA and the MPLA. Officially, the two parties are part of a government of national unity, set up in terms of the Lusaka Protocol signed in 1994 to ease tensions in Angola. "UNITA stands to lose a lot - after the elections it will no longer be a government of power sharing so they will lose certain ministers and governors," one NGO worker said. "The MPLA wants a two-thirds majority in parliament so it can push through the constitution of its choosing, one of a super-presidency where all the power rests in the hands of the president," the source added.