Carlos Veiga

Carlos Veiga, 2017

Carlos Alberto Wahnon de Carvalho Veiga (born October 21, 1949 in Mindelo ) was Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1991 to 2000 .

Early years

Veiga was born on the island of São Vicente . After attending school in Praia on the island of Santiago , he studied law in Lisbon and obtained his doctorate in 1971. From 1972 to 1974 he was an administrative clerk in Angola , which also belonged to Portugal . In 1975 he returned to his homeland, which became independent that year. There he worked as a public prosecutor . Problems with the then unity party Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde (PAICV) prompted him to leave the civil service and practice as a lawyer. He was elected to parliament in 1985 and 1988 and founded the opposition party MpD in 1990 .

Politician

After the introduction of democracy, his party won the parliamentary elections on January 13, 1991 against the previously ruling PAICV with 56 out of 79 seats. He became Prime Minister on April 4, 1991. During his reign he moved Cape Verde, which had previously been ruled by socialists , towards a market economy . In 1995 he was re-elected. On September 28, 1998, he survived the emergency landing of a TACV aircraft during a storm with minor injuries, a bodyguard died in the accident. He resigned on July 29, 2000, to run for the 2001 presidency.

In the presidential elections he was defeated by his predecessor as Prime Minister Pedro Pires in the second ballot on February 25, 2001, 17 votes behind. Veiga filed ten complaints against the election result, and his victorious competitor two. A short time later Veiga accepted his defeat. In the 2006 elections, Veiga was again defeated by Pedro Pires.

Web links

• The BBC on the 2001 elections, March 6, 2001 (english)
• Kurzbiografie (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report in the Aviation Safety Network (English)