Angola shall be a sovereign and independent Republic, based on the dignity of the individual and the will of the Angolan people, whose primary objective shall be to build a free, just, democratic, solidary society of peace, equality and social progress.
Article 2
(Democratic state based on the rule of law)
- The Republic of Angola shall be a democratic state based on the rule of law and on the sovereignty of the people, the primacy of the Constitution and the law, the separation of powers and the interdependence of functions, national unity, pluralism of political expression and organisation, and representative and participatory democracy.
- The Republic of Angola shall promote and defend the basic human rights and freedoms of individuals and members of organised social groups and shall ensure respect for them and guarantee their implementation through the legislative, executive and judicial powers, their organs and institutions, and on the part of all individuals and corporate bodies.
Article 3
(Sovereignty)
- Single and indivisible sovereignty shall lie with the people, who shall exercise it through universal, free, equal, direct, secret and periodic suffrage in the various forms established in the Constitution, namely in order to choose their representatives.
- The state shall exercise its sovereignty over all Angolan territory which, under the terms of this Constitution, the law and international law, includes its land, interior and territorial waters, air space, soil and sub-soil, seafloor and associated sea beds.
- The state shall exercise jurisdiction and rights of sovereignty over the conservation, development and use of natural, biological and non-biological resources in the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic area and on the continental shelf, under the terms of the law and international law.
Article 4
(Exercise of political power)
- Political power shall be exercised by whoever legally obtains it through free democratic elections, under the terms of the Constitution and the law.
- The appropriation and exercise of political power by violent means or by any other means not stipulated in, or conforming to, the Constitution shall be illegal and punishable as a crime.
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