The legislative process in Angola is established by the 2010 Constitution. The Constitution defines the Angola as a unitary state. The President of the Republic is the Head of State, the Executive Power and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Among its duties, the President of the Republic shall enact the laws of the National Assembly. The President should enact a law within 30 days of receiving it; within this period, the President can ask the National Assembly to reconsider the legislation. If, after this reconsideration, a two-thirds majority of the Members approve the legislation, the President must enact it within 15 days. The President also issues Presidential legislative decrees, provisional Presidential legislative decrees, Presidential decrees, and Presidential dispatches, which are published in the Diário da República (Official Gazette).
The National Assembly is the parliament, a unicameral body, with 220 members. The members are elected for five years according to a system of proportional representation, where 130 members are elected at national level, and 90 members are elected by provincial districts (five members for each province). After the first election for the National Assembly was held in 1992, the following election, scheduled for 1997, was delayed on numerous occasions until it was eventually held in 2008. The last election was held in 2012.
In the exercise of its functions, the National Assembly issues constitutional revision laws, organic laws, general laws, authorisations to legislate, and resolutions. Unless authorisation is granted to the Executive to do so, the National Assembly has competence for legislating on nature protection, ecological and environmental balance, and cultural heritage.
The power to initiate legislation is exercised by Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Groups and the President. Groups of citizens and the organisations representing them may present proposals for introducing new legislation. Bills of laws and resolutions are approved by an absolute majority vote of the Members present, provided that this amounts to more than half of the Members in full exercise of their office.
Responsibilities of local authorities include energy, water, transport, civil defence, the environment and basic sanitation, promotion of economic and social development.