Presidential elections in São Tomé and Príncipe 2011

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The first round of the 2011 presidential elections in São Tomé and Príncipe in the West African island state of São Tomé and Príncipe took place on July 17, 2011, followed by a runoff on August 7, 2011.

The then incumbent President Fradique de Menezes had ruled the country for two terms and, according to the constitution, was not allowed to run for a third time. The final result saw the 74-year-old Manuel Pinto da Costa as the winner, who narrowly prevailed against the parliamentary speaker Evaristo Carvalho .

About 120 candidates were involved in the first round. The candidate of President Menezes' party, Movimento Democrático das Forças da Mudança-Partido Liberal , MDFM-PL, was Delfim Neves , who represented both the MDFM-PL and his own Partido de Convergencia Democratica , PCD-GR. The independent candidate Pinto da Costa won the most votes, but could not get the majority of the votes necessary for a victory in the first round. Carvalho, of the ruling Acção Democrática Independente (ADI) party, a former prime minister and acting spokesman for the National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe, finished second. On the same day a runoff between Pinto da Costa and Carvalho was announced. Pinto da Costa received the support of the majority of the losing candidates and a comfortable majority for him was widely expected.

Pinto da Costa won the August 7 election by only 5% and was due to take office on September 3.

background

Manuel Pinto da Costa was already President of São Tomé and Príncipe once, right after independence in 1975. He ruled the islands as a socialist one-party state under the leadership of the Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe (Liberation Movement of São Tomé and Príncipe, MLSTP). It was not until 1991 that the country was democratized, opposition parties were allowed and the first free presidential election took place . Pinto da Costa had not started at the time and instead announced his retirement from politics. Since the MLSTP did not present an alternative candidate, Miguel Trovoada was elected without an opponent. Despite his initial declaration to withdraw from politics, Pinto da Costa then entered the 1996 presidential election but was narrowly defeated by Trovoada. Also in 2001 he competed against the ruling President Fradique de Menezes, but was again unsuccessful.

In 2005 Pinto da Costa left the MLSTP. The party is currently led by Aurélio Martins , who finished sixth in the first round of elections. Other key candidates were Prime Minister Maria das Neves and former Defense Minister Elsa Pinto, both of whom ran as independents. Pinto da Costa's main rival, Carvalho, represented the ADI, which won the 2010 general election and is the party of ruling Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada .

choice

92,639 citizens were registered as voters. For the first round, the electoral commission headed by Victor Correia determined a turnout of 68 percent. Of the 120 candidates, Da Costa and Carvalho received the most votes (35.6 and 21.8 percent respectively), but none of them won a majority of the votes. Delfim Neves and Maria das Neves both won substantial votes (each more than 14 percent), but only the top two were allowed to run into the runoff. After the results were announced, most of the losing candidates including Delfim Neves, Maria das Neves and Aurélio Martins da Costa supported.

The African Union , the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and the Central African Economic Community sent observers to the elections declaring them free and fair. The only major confrontation observed was an election boycott of 30,000 people from five villages on São Tomé's north coast in protest against unsatisfactory living conditions. The ballot boxes in these villages were reopened on July 20th, but the results did not change the distribution of seats.

Results

Candidate - nominating party First round Second round
be right % be right %
Manuel Pinto da Costa - Independent 21 457 35.62 35 112 52.88
Evaristo Carvalho - Acção Democrática Independente 13 125 21.79 31 287 47.12
Delfim Neves - Partido de Convergência Democrática and Movimento Democrático das Forças da Mudança-Partido Liberal 8 652 14.36  
Maria das Neves - Independent 8 461 14.04
Elsa Pinto - Independent 2,682 4.45
Aurélio Martins - Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe 2,445 4.06
Filinto Costa Alegre - Independent 2.401 3.99
Hélder Barros - Independent 414 0.69
Jorge Coelho - Independent 401 0.67
Manuel de Deus Lima - Independent 208 0.35
valid votes 60 246 95.13 66 399 96.81
invalid votes 2,822 4.87 2 191 3.19
Total votes 63 328 100.00 68.590 100.00
voter turnout 68.4% 74.0%
Source: African Election Database

Reactions

Some analysts expressed concern that Pinto da Costas could lead to a return of the authoritarian regime that ruled under his previous presidency.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ August 6, 2011, Voice of America, accessed January 27, 2017.
  2. ↑ google.com/hostednews/afp ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Sao Tome presidential vote set for run-off, accessed on September 24, 2011.
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of March 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), August 8, 2011, accessed on August 7, 2011.
  4. ↑ google.com/hostednews/afp ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Sao Tome presidential vote set for run-off, accessed on September 24, 2011.
  5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of March 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) July 23, 2011
  6. ↑ google.com/hostednews/afp ( Memento from September 6, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  7. ↑ google.com/hostednews/afp ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140301004613/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jK8Sr91mcGhbjwFdA3PWQXAXM8ZQ?docId=CNG.5535797e6ca750ddf Former power pomer Veiga (AFP) - Retrieved Aug 5, 2011 on October 3, 2011.
  9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of March 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) publico: Manuel Pinto da Costa eleito Presidente de São Tomé, accessed on October 3, 2011.
  10. ↑ google.com/hostednews/afp ( Memento from January 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Sao Tome presidential vote set for run-off (AFP) - July 17, 2011 accessed on October 3, 2011.
  11. ↑ http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.2b4f6fd7caf05132cb9f1b6338bac556.2d1 ic-publications, accessed on October 3, 2011.
  12. ↑ http://africanelections.tripod.com/st.html#2011_Presidential_Election africanelections.tripod.com, accessed October 3, 2011.
  13. ↑ http://africanelections.tripod.com/st.html#2011_Presidential_Election africanelections.tripod.com, accessed October 3, 2011.
  14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140301004613/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jK8Sr91mcGhbjwFdA3PWQXAXM8ZQ?docId=CNG.5535797e6ca750ddf Former power pomer Veiga (AFP) - Retrieved Aug 5, 2011 on October 3, 2011.
  15. ↑ http://africanelections.tripod.com/recent.html accessed October 6, 2011.
  16. ↑ google.com/hostednews/af ( Memento from May 27, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  17. ↑ http://africanelections.tripod.com/recent.html , accessed October 6, 2011.
  18. ↑ http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL6E7J818Q20110808 accessed on October 7, 2011.

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