The former Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Jose Neves has won Sunday’s presidential election.
Neves, 61, a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) and head of government from 2001 to 2016, won 51.7 per cent of the vote, an absolute majority needed to be elected, the official results shows.
According to election officials, Neves won 99.4 per cent of polling stations putting him well ahead of Carlos Veiga, of the Movement for Democracy (MpD).
Neves, however will inherit responsibility for stabilizing the Island nation’s tourism-driven economy after the COVID-19 pandemic drove it deep into recession.
He said he wants to be a president “who unites, protects and cares.”
“I must say that it is a great responsibility to preside over the Cape Verdean nation in these difficult times, and I receive this victory with the great humility that has always characterized me,” he told supporters after his victory.
The transfer of power will be the fourth between the MpD and PAICV since independence from Portugal in 1975, consolidating Cape Verde’s status as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.