Constitutional Law and Fundamental Rights
Core concepts
Angola's Constitution (2010, as revised) organises the state around the principle of the democratic rule of law, popular sovereignty, and the separation and interdependence of sovereign organs: the President of the Republic, the National Assembly, the courts, and the Public Prosecutor's Office. Candidates must know the hierarchy of norms (constitutional block, international treaties ratified by Angola, ordinary law, regulations) and the mechanism of diffuse and concentrated review of constitutionality. Fundamental rights are grouped as personal, political, economic, social and cultural, with the right to life, legality in criminal matters, and the principle of non-retroactivity of criminal law treated as especially protected.
Traps
Questions often confuse suspension of rights (permitted only under a declared state of emergency or siege, with proportionality and time limits) with restriction by ordinary law. Another trap is the difference between the Ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça), who has no binding decision power, and the courts. Watch for the rule that constitutional review of omissions and the abstract review of unconstitutionality follow distinct procedural routes. Questions also test the idea that international human-rights treaties prevail over ordinary legislation once duly ratified and published.
Rule of thumb
When a question says a right was "limited by decree", ask: is the limitation provided by law, does it pursue a legitimate aim, and is it proportionate? If any of the three fails, the limitation is unconstitutional.
Worked example
A ministerial decree restricts a peaceful assembly without any legislative authorisation. Because freedom of assembly may only be restricted by law and under proportionality, the decree is unconstitutional regardless of its stated public-order purpose.