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General Information
NATIONAL ANTHEM
Portuguese
Pátria, nunca mais esqueceremos
Os heróis do quatro de Fevereio.
O Pátria, nós saudamos os teus filhos
Tombados pela nossa Independência.
Honramos o passado e a nossa História,
Construindo no Trabalho o Homem novo,
CHORUS
Angola, avante!
Revolução, pelo Poder Popular!
Pátria Unida, Liberdade,
Um só povo, uma só Nação!
Levantemos nossas vozes libertadas
Para glóriados povos africanos.
Marchemos, combatentes angolanos,
Solidários com os poroso primidos.
Orgulhosos lutaremos Pela Paz
Com as forças progressistas do mundo.
English
Oh Fatherland, we shall never forget
The heroes of the Fourth of February.
Oh Fatherland, we salute your sons
Who died for our Independence.
We honor the past and our history
As by our work we build the New Man.
CHORUS
Forward, Angola!
Revolution through the power of the People!
A United Country, Freedom,
One People, one Nation!
Let us raise our liberated voices
To the glory of the peoples of Africa.
We shall march, Angolan fighters,
In solidarity with oppressed peoples.
We shall fight proudly for Peace
Along with the progressive forces of the world.
GOVERNMENT
Angola changed from a one-party Marxist-Leninist
system ruled by the MPLA to a nominal multiparty
democracy following the 1992 elections, in which
President dos Santos won the first-round election
with 49% of the vote to Jonas Savimbi's 40.
The executive branch
of the Angolan government
is composed of the President, the vice president,
3 ministers of state and the Council of Ministers.
The other ministers report through the 3 ministers of
state. In total there are 28 ministers, 21 secretaries
of state and 34 deputy ministers.
Political power is concentrated in the presidency. The
Council of Ministers, composed of all government
ministers and secretaries of state, meets regularly
to discuss policy issues. The president, the Council
of Ministers, and individual ministers in their areas of
competence have the ability to legislate by decree.
The central government administers the country
through 18 provinces. In August 2007, the Council of
Ministers passed a resolution to grant some munici-
palities control over their own budgets; in 2008 this
resolution was extended to all municipalities.
The legislative procedure:
the National Assembly
promotes the implementation of the objectives of the
state, legislates and makes decisions on basic ques-
tions relating to the State's life. It has the power to
approve laws on all matters (except those reserved
by the Constitution to the Government) by simple
majority. The Assembly's jurisdiction includes mak-
ing changes in the constitutional law, the proposal of
the Government, the National Plan and the general
state budget. The National Assembly also monitors,
at supreme level, the actions of the government and
of the other state organs and in addition authorizes
the government to contract and grant loans, ap-
proves international treaties, grants amnesties and
authorizes the President to declare war and make
peace.
Each legislature comprises four legislative sessions
of twelve months starting on 15th of October each
year. Theoretically, the Assembly sits for a four-year
term. However, after the first election was held in
1992, the following election, scheduled for 1997,
was delayed on numerous occasions until it was
eventually held in September 2008.
Among the 220 deputies currently seated in the Na-
tional Assembly, 130 are elected at large, and 5 are
elected to represent each of the 18 provinces. The
Electoral Law also calls for the election of three ad-
ditional deputies to represent citizens living abroad;
however, those positions have not been filled.
Angola held legislative elections on September 5,
2008, the first since 1992. Due to technical difficul-
ties on election day, voting was extended through
September 6 in some constituencies. The results
of the elections were accepted by UNITA and most
other opposition parties. The MPLA won 81,6% of
the electorate, giving it 191 out of 220 seats in par-