Higino Carneiro admits to asking for a contest of the elections in the MPLA in Angola

O former general assumes himself as the main opponent of the current president of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and President of the Republic, João Lourenço, at the December congress and saw his candidacy rejected.

He appealed to the Constitutional Court that denied the request for suspension of the party’s decision and said today that he will “exhaust all appeals” to which he is entitled to carry out the candidacy.

Higino Carneiro took stock of the situation at a press conference, repeating that he is not thinking of giving up.

“A general does not retreat before arriving in the fight,” he said, admitting that he could “uplift a possible challenge of the process”, with consequences for the IX ordinary congress scheduled for December 9th and 10th.

Higino Carneiro said that three requests for clarification, falsehood and nullity were submitted to the Constitutional Court on the 15th of this month.

He admitted that time plays against him, but still the intention is to exhaust all the resources to which he is entitled as a militant and a member of the party leadership.

“ I am also a member of the Central Committee, I have the right to sit directly at the congress, which is why it is premature to think that things will not go as we wish,” he said.

According to Higino Carneiro, the goal is not to go to the last consequences and says that he still believes “in common sense and dialogue”.

“And above all, that we respect as much as possible what we wrote when we approved our statutes, which were over the times changed, renewed and approved consensually,” he stressed.

The general said that the intention is not to harm the MPLA, but to help deepen internal democracy, “to make it stronger and renewed, to face the challenges that are approaching in 2027”.

“ For this reason, a fair decision by any body in the internal or external recursory chain will help to avoid a possible challenge of the case,” he said.

In recent times, a meeting with João Lourenço, the pre-candidate to the president of the MPLA, said that they spoke on June 2, 2025, when he announced his intention to run for leadership of the party.

“ We have never spoken again and I have used the instruments, the institutions that have been created within the party, to bring my communication to my attention. Whoever is stronger should also be magnanimous, I have not yet seen the need to ask the President for an audience to address this issue that is well known and public and that we are dealing with it within the institutions that were created by the Central Committee itself,” he said.

Higino Carneiro said that his verticality and coherence encourage him to continue the struggle to run for president of the MPLA.

“Coherence does no harm to anyone, if I am not consistent with myself, the story will judge me tomorrow,” he said, adding that his struggle is not personal, because he is “seeking for a position”, but because for his history and militancy it is up to him to “do something for the party”.

On 25 June last, Higino Carneiro submitted his application, which was rejected on 21 July by the subcommittee, pointing out serious irregularities, including allegedly falsified signatures and the misuse of identification documents.

The pre-candidate filed a complaint with the National Preparatory Commission of the Congress, arguing that the decision was extemporaneous, because the deadline for the submission and regularization of applications continues.