Democracy News

Former Dictator Wins São Tomé and Príncipe Presidential Elections
August 8, 2011
By: Carlos Aramayo | Printer Friendly

On August 7, Manuel Pinto da Costa, a Marxist economist, was declared the winner of São Tomé and Príncipe’s presidential run-off election by the country’s national electoral commission. BBC News reported Pinto da Costa narrowly defeated Independent Democratic Action candidate Evaristo Carvalho, who is the current speaker of the National Assembly. Previously, Pinto da Costa ruled São Tomé and Príncipe as a communist one-party state for the first 15 years after the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. The archipelago nation has been marred by political instability with 18 prime ministers in power since it adopted a multi-party system in 1990.

The first round of the election was held on July 17, and was contested by approximately 120 candidates.  AFP reported that approximately 30,000 people abstained from voting and five villages boycotted the poll in protest of living conditions on the islands. The national electoral commission declared Pinto da Costa the first round winner with 35.58 percent of votes. However, Pinto da Costa did not have the absolute majority (45 percent) needed to avoid a run-off. In close second was the National Assembly Speaker Evaristo Carvalho, a run-off between Pinto da Costa and Carvalho was announced by the electoral commission.

On August 8, Reuters reported that the country’s national election commission said Pinto da Costa had won the second round run-off election with 52.88 percent of the vote against Carvalho’s 47 percent of the vote. In an interview with Reuters, the newly elected president stated that his priority would be to fight corruption and poverty in the Atlantic archipelago of about 140,000 people. Pinto da Costa is scheduled to take office on September 3 and will serve a five-year term.

Eduardo Lobao, from the Portuguese news agency Lusa, told the BBC's Network Africa program that the majority of the islands' 165,000 residents are young and have no memories of da Costa's one-party rule. Under the country’s constitution, outgoing president Fradique de Menezes, who was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2006, could not seek a third term.

São Tomé and Príncipe is one of the world's poorest countries: foreign aid makes up about 80 percent of its budget. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 54 percent of the country's 200,000 people live under the poverty line. . A former leading cocoa producer, São Tomé and Príncipe has large offshore reserves of oil and commercial production is expected begin in the near future. However, arguments have arisen over how to spend the expected windfall which has led to increased political tension.

Sources:
AFP – Sao Tome presidential vote set for run-off

BBC News – Sao Tome independence leader Pinto da Costa wins poll

AFP – Sao Tome picks new president

Reuters – Sao Tome's Pinto da Costa wins presidential runoff