Constitution of Angola

Angola's current constitution was approved 186 to 0 by the National Assembly in 2010, the third major version of the country's constitution after an original adopted at independence from Portugal in 1975 and a complete rewrite in 1992 that authorized multiparty democracy. Its 244 articles designate the president as head of state, head of the executive branch and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and changed the method of selecting the president so that the person heading the majority party's list of candidates in the legislature automatically becomes president rather than being directly elected; the president is limited to two consecutive five-year terms. The 2010 constitution abolished the Prime Minister position, declared all land the property of the state, banned capital punishment and guaranteed religious and press freedoms, and it was criticized and boycotted by the opposition party UNITA, which argued it concentrated excessive power in the presidency.