20100121
press tv

Angola's parliament has voted to approve the country's first constitution, replacing an interim constitutional law in effect since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975.

The charter was approved on Thursday following a ballot in the 220-seat parliament, with 186 affirmative votes, AFP news agency reported.

Following the vote, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, who has led the oil-rich country for the past three decades, was declared the president of the National Assembly.

The constitution cements the longtime rulers' hold over the country by abolishing direct elections, reserving the power to name the country's future heads of state for the party that possesses the majority of the parliamentary seats.

Other main articles of the document also declare Portuguese as the national language and Luanda as the capital of the country.

The document has been criticized by the main opposition party, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, which boycotted the session, on the grounds that the constitutional process was flawed and went against democratic principles.

The vote was not expected until March, and the charter now awaits further approvals from the Constitutional Court and Dos Santos.

With 244 articles, the constitution also clarifies laws on governing and citizens' rights and land ownership. According to the document, all land is owned by the state, which decides who has the right to use it.