Opposition walks out of pre-election commission

After months of urging the authorities to set a date for Angola's first post-war general elections, opposition parties have walked out of a commission tasked with laying the groundwork for a national poll. Opposition parties said in statement on Wednesday that they had "decided to suspend, as of 12 May 2004, their participation in the work of the constitutional commission of the National Assembly, until the President consults with the parties and a definite timetable is approved" for holding elections. The main opposition party, UNITA, has called for elections by mid-2005, but the ruling MPLA has laid out 14 tasks to be completed before the country can hold its first ballot since 1992. Observers have noted that it was unlikely that a poll would be held before 2006. UNITA's secretary for public administration, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN: "Nothing substantial has been accomplished. The government continues to make decisions on their own without consulting any of the opposition parties. We want [President Eduardo] dos Santos to come up with a clear timetable that sets out the steps towards the election - so far there is nothing we can work towards." The approval of a new constitution is one of the key prerequisites for holding an election, but Sakala said it "is not necessary to wait for the approval of the constitution, as the existing constitutional framework would suffice". "The country can go ahead and hold elections with the current constitution. After that, the new National Assembly can be asked to make amendments to the constitution," he noted. During a visit to Washington this week to meet US President George W. Bush, Dos Santos said his government was making arrangements to hold legislative and presidential elections. "We would not like to rush into holding elections like we did in 1992. We would like to prepare the elections so that Angolans may conscientiously take part in the polls and freely elect the candidates of their choice, and ultimately the results accepted by the people as a whole," the official ANGOP news agency quoted Dos Santos as saying. Passing a new electoral register law, creating an electoral council and establishing basic administrative functions in remote areas are among other tasks that need to be accomplished before an election can be held, the government has argued. Rafael Marques, director of the NGO, Open Society-Angola, said the walk-out would put the government under increasing pressure to set a date for the poll. "This is a very positive and expected development, because it was clear that the commission was not seriously addressing the issues raised by the Angolan public. The exit of the opposition parties means that the government will become increasingly alienated and, hopefully, this will convince them of the importance of setting a date for the election," Marques commented. It was important that international donors implore the Angolan authorities to establish an election timetable, he added. Sakala commented that "by leaving the commission, we have time now to lobby inside and outside the country, to make sure that the government listens to the concerns of the Angolan people".