João Lourenço says he still doesn't know who will be the MPLA candidate

O angolan head of state and leader of MPLA, João Lourenço, said today that even he does not know who will be the party's candidate in power for the presidency of the Republic in the general elections next year.

João Lourenço is prevented from reapplying for having reached the legal limit of two terms, but is a single candidate for party leadership at the IX ordinary MPLA congress, scheduled for 9 and 10 December, where the name of the candidate for the Presidency of the Republic should be indicated.

“For now I don’t even know myself. For the time being”, he replied to the margin of the inauguration of the Advanced Technology Industrial Center in Luanda, when asked by journalists about when the MPLA candidate should be known as President.

“ But when the time comes, we'll all meet. Starting with myself”, he added without going into details.

João Lourenço said that the IX MPLA Congress will elect only the president of the party and the Central Committee (CC) and that the MPLA candidate for general elections of 2027 will be known in due course.

He said that the preparation of the congress takes place within the programmed.

“Its preparation, so far, at least, is taking place within the programmed, with no major setbacks and we wait for the central act of the congress, because, after all, the congress is already happening,” he said.

At the party's magna meeting, João Lourenço provides for no revision of the party's statutes or program.

“ We understand there's no need. Which means that the congress will be summed up, in principle, to the election of these two bodies, the president of the party and its Central Committee,” he said.

João Lourenço was the only candidate admitted to the party leadership, after retired general Higino Carneiro and engineer António Venâncio were removed for alleged irregularities and shortcomings registered in their applications.