Sao Tome and Principe holds presidential election

Some 142,000 voters are choosing a president in São Tomé and Príncipe on Sunday, as incumbent Carlos Vila Nova seeks another five-year term in the cocoa-producing island nation of about 240,000 people.

Vila Nova, who won the 2021 election in a runoff, is running as an independent after falling out with the party that backed him four years ago. The Independent Democratic Action party (ADI), which holds a parliamentary majority, had supported him in the last election. But their alliance fractured last year when Vila Nova dismissed Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada.

The president now faces three challengers. The main opposition candidate, Nito Abreu, has promised to create jobs and halt the departure of young people from the islands.

The former Portuguese colony has held free elections since adopting multiparty democracy in 1990. But in 2022, authorities said they had stopped a coup attempt, the first in nearly 20 years. A defence think tank linked to the US Department of Defence said Sunday’s vote is an opportunity to show that such violence is not becoming a pattern.

Voting stations opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 6 p.m. Preliminary results are expected later on Sunday or Monday. If no candidate wins more than 50%, a runoff will follow. Legislative elections are set for September.

SOURCE: Reuters