Angola: MPs Reject Presidential Impeachment Proposal

The country's leading opposition party walked out of an extraordinary parliamentary session called to discuss a possible impeachment against President Joao Lourenco on October 14, heightening political turmoil in the oil-rich country, Voice of America reports.

Lawmakers met in the capital, Luanda, to decide whether to set up a parliamentary commission to examine a motion to remove Lourenco from office presented by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), a former rebel group turned political movement that lost a disputed election in 2022.

But UNITA MPs walked out in protest crying "dictatorship, dictatorship!" ahead of the vote, after the ruling party pushed for a public ballot, which the opposition said should be secret instead.

The proposal was then rejected with 123 votes against and one abstention.

UNITA had presented an almost 100-page-long motion to impeach Lourenco earlier after months of preparations.

Article and image originally from All Africa