Cape Verde ruling party unseated in election, partial results show

By Julio Rodrigues

PRAIA, May 18 (Reuters) – Cape Verde’s PAICV party won Sunday’s parliamentary election, unseating the Movement for Democracy (MpD) and positioning itself to return to power after a decade in opposition, partial results and party statements indicated on Monday.

The Atlantic archipelago of 10 islands has a long tradition of power alternating between its two main parties: the MpD, which has governed since 2016, and the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).

Partial official results from the National Election Commission based on 98.2% of polling stations showed the PAICV with 46.7% of the vote, equivalent to 37 of the 72 seats, ahead of the MpD with 43.6%.

PAICV leader Francisco Carvalho looked set to become prime minister after the incumbent, Ulisses Correia e Silva, conceded defeat in his first remarks after the vote.

But Correia e Silva said it remained unclear whether the PAICV had secured an outright majority as votes were still being counted.

“The results, obviously, did not reach the level of our objectives, which were to win the elections, continue governing Cape Verde and move the country forward,” he said.

Carvalho hailed the outcome as a call for change and said voters had backed his platform decisively.

Carvalho, who is in his second term as mayor of the capital, Praia, is now set to share power with President Jose Maria Neves, also of the PAICV.

Cape Verde operates under a hybrid presidential-parliamentary model, in which the prime minister, selected by the National Assembly, heads the government while the president retains significant powers including veto authority and a mediating role.

(Reporting by Julio Rodrigues; Writing by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Ayen Deng Bior and Kevin Liffey)