Angolan electoral commission agrees to vote counting at polling stations

The Angolan electoral commission has agreed to allow vote counting at the polling stations before the results are sent to the provincial collation centres.

The decision was announced at the end of a plenary session in the capital Luanda on Sunday after the demand was made by some opposition parties, the Angolan news agency reports.

The two main opposition parties in the country, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola – Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE), had earlier complained of irregularities in the electoral process.

The spokeswoman for the National Electoral Commission (CNE) Júlia Ferreira told the media after the meeting that the municipal electoral commission must immediately send results counted at the polling stations to the provincial electoral commission for tabulation.

She stressed that tabulation will only be done at the provincial level before the results are sent to national centre in Luanda to convert the votes into mandates using the proportional representation method.

This is done using the Hare Quota which is calculated by dividing the total number of votes gained by each party by the number of seats.

Júlia Ferreira said the system is backed by law.

The electoral commission chairperson is supposed to announced the results through the media within 15 days after the close of polls.

The opposition CASA-CE said on Monday that it will use a computer programme to calculate results based on data from delegates at polling stations.

9.3 million registered voters are expected to show up at 12,512 polling stations nationwide on Wednesday.

Six parties are vying to take over the seat of outgoing President Eduardo dos Santos. The political parties include the ruling MPLA led by Joao Lourenco, main opposition UNITA led by Isaias Samakuva, FNLA, PRS, APN and the coalition CASA-CE party.

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