Cape Verde: Citizens Go to the Polls to Elect President
By staff writer
Cape Verde islanders off Africa's western coast went to the polls Sunday to pick a new president as incumbent President Pedro Pires wrapped up two terms at the helm of a nation hailed for its stable democracy, with his ruling party facing a split vote.
A slow voter turnout was experienced in the early hours of the morning after polling stations opened up to an hour later than the scheduled 7:00 am local time (0800 GMT) throughout the ex-Portuguese colony of 10 main islands and eight islets, but voting proceeded smoothly throughout the day.
The delays were out of concern "that things are done properly", said Jorges Lima a , polling station manager in Tchada Sao Antoa in downtown Praia while Alice Pires at the Palmarejo school said election material had arrived late.
Outgoing president Pires voted mid-morning in western Praia saying he would "return home and watch the results with my family. I congratulate all my compatriots and urge them to vote in great numbers."
The top contenders vying for the seat include, the candidates of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), Manuel Inocencio Sousa and the opposition MPD, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, being the front-runners.
Local media put these two as the front-runners alongside main opposition Movement for Democracy (MFD) candidate former foreign minister and law professor Jorge Carlos Fonseca and former soldier and veteran of the independence war, Joaquim Jaime Monteiro, 70 on the race.
PAICV and MPD have dominated Cape Verde politics since multi-party elections were first held in 1991, each having ruled for about a decade.
With over 305,349 voters on the electoral list,the election took place under the watch of 112 international observers, including 16 from the African Union (AU) and 82 from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Pires has overseen a golden period in the island nation since his election in 2001, with the construction of three international airports, ports, and hundreds of kilometres of roads in a decade of growth averaging six percent.
However with meagre natural resources and the global financial crisis affecting vital remittances from the diaspora, politicians are grappling to keep the boom alive and face growing unemployment, pegged at 13 percent.
The final results should be released by Wednesday, said electoral commission spokeswoman Maria Joao Novais. If no candidate wins an absolute majority, a run-off will take place on August 21.