Cape Verde: president of PAICV confirmed victor by 12 votes

In a repeat of Florida Syndrome, Cape Verde confirms the victory of Pedro Pires as its new President by just 12 votes. With 49.43% against the 49.42% of his opponent, Carlos Veiga (Movement for Democracy), the PAICV candidate sees his election confirmed by the National Elections Committee. The PAICV (Party for the Independence of Cape Verde) fought for its independence from Portugal in the 1960s and 1970s, a fight which it won after the Portuguese revolution in 1974. President Pires declares himself as a president in favour of reconciliation and dialogue among all Cape Verdians after his party ends a ten-year period in opposition. The PAICV won the Parliamentary elections in February this year with an absolute majority. Pedro Pires was the first Head of Government of Cape Verde, an archipelago of nine islands off the coast of West Africa, in 1975, when Cape Verde gained its independence. It was he who ended the single-party political system in 1991 and he was promptly defeated but after ten years in the political wilderness, he returns and pledges himself to fight for the future “stability, governmental stability and credibility of the country”.

TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.RU LISBON