Cabo Verde / Cape Verde - Election 2021
In 1990, one-party rule in Cape Verde was swept away and the first multi-party elections were held the following year. Cape Verde has a semi-parliamentary system in which the prime minister wields executive power while the president plays the part of arbitrator in the event of intractable disputes. In a continent marked by political unrest, coups or rulers who have been in power for decades, the tiny Atlantic archipelago stands out. It ranked just behind Mauritius as the most democratic country in sub-Saharan Africa in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2020 Democracy Index.
Through the peaceful elections in 2021 — which involved an historic level of participation by women candidates — Cabo Verde has further cemented its position as a model of democracy in the region. Cape Verde is an island where mostly men have migrated out. The majority of the population is women and their main concern is economy and the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.
With foreign tourism accounting for about a quarter of the economy and visitors unable to come owing to global pandemic restrictions, Cape Verde, with a population of 550,000, was plunged into a recession in 2020, when output shrank by 14.8 percent. Both main parties pledged measures to provide wide access to COVID-19 vaccinations and to diversify the economy. Although it lies about 990km (615 miles) off the coast of Senegal, Cape Verde has witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases. With 189 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the country had the highest rate in Africa according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention for the period from April 5-11.
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva and the Movement for Democracy (MpD) gained victory in Cabo Verde’s 18 April 2021 parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva's Movement for Democracy (MpD) was closely challenged by the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), a socialist party led by Janira Hopffer Almada. The 42-year-old lawyer and former youth minister hoped to become the first woman to lead the former Portuguese colony.
Voters in the island nation of Cape Verde cast ballots on 17 October 2021 to elect the country’s next president. The polls marked the end of the second and last mandate of Jorge Carlos Fonseca, the fourth president in Cape Verde’s history, since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. A second round of voting was provisionally scheduled for October 31, if no single candidate receives a majority.
This was the seventh round of elections since Cape Verde’s transition to free and multiparty elections in 1991. The 10-island archipelago off West Africa’s coast is often praised as an exemplary democracy in the continent, as it continued to rank high amongst indexes of transparency and political freedom.
A record seven candidates are running – but the strongest contenders are two former prime ministers: Carlos Veiga, supported by the Movement for Democracy (Mpd) and the Democratic and Independent Cape Verdean Union (UCID); and José Maria Neves, running with support from the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).
Both Mpd and PAICV have dominated Cape Verde’s political scene for decades, having been key players in the country’s struggle for independence and its aftermath – which remains a key mobilising factor in today’s electoral campaigns. “In parliamentary elections, MpD and PAICV aggregate just over 90 percent of all votes, and almost all parliamentary seats,” explains Edalina Sanches, an assistant professor in African Studies at the University Institute of Lisbon, and author of Party Systems in Young Democracies.
The two main challengers, who have garnered most of the media attention throughout the electoral campaign, have pledged to bring stability and consensus to face the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on a country that relies heavily on tourism.
Veiga is often praised for his role in helping build the constitution, as one of the founding members of the MpD, a party that played a central role in Cape Verde’s transition to democratisation. The 71-year-old, whose role as an ambassador to the United States ended in 2020, held office as prime minister between 1991 and 2000.
Neves, meanwhile, was elected as prime minister in 2001. He went on to hold the longest mandate in the country’s history, being elected three consecutive times until 2016. The 61-year-old is the former president and deputy of PAICV. Cape Verde has a semi-parliamentary system where the prime minister holds executive power and the president acts as a head of state, taking the role of a mediator. “The president’s role is far from being a merely ceremonial one,” said Sanches, noting it often lies in advocating for consensus in crucial decisions and intractable disputes, guaranteeing stability and protecting the constitution. “Presidents will not implement public policies, but they have the power to veto laws, to supervise government initiatives,” added Sanches.
Cape Verde continued to battle an economic recession after output shrank by 14.8 percent in 2020, partly due to the country’s dependence on tourism, which accounts for 25 percent of the economy. In July 2021, Olavo Correia, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, told parliament the country was going through the biggest “economic, financial and budget crisis of its history”.
Political discussions have focused on a range of issues, including urban violence, the need for a nonpartisan public sector and the diversification of the economy. “The debates have not been about electoral promises but rather about promises to influence the resolution of key issues – from justice to health, and the role and independence of the president in these issues,” said Sanches.
Cape Verde’s large diaspora, often referred to as the archipelago’s “eleventh island” represents an important share of the vote, as foreign remittances make up 12.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Approximately 500,000 people live on the islands, while it is estimated that more than 700,000 live abroad, predominantly in Europe and the United States. However, observers caution that abstention is traditionally higher abroad and expect this trend to continue, with only about 57,000 voters registered outside Cape Verde.
Abstention rates, however, are not a problem reserved solely for emigrated Cape Verdeans – the previous presidential election registered a resounding abstention rate of 64.5 percent. But Sanches believes the number of contenders this year and the presence of candidates such as Veiga and Neves are “extremely mobilising”, which may counter this recent trend.
Still, the historical legacy of the main contending parties may begin to lose ground, particularly among the country’s younger population, who often do not feel incentivised to participate in the electoral cycle. Redy Lima, a sociologist working in Cape Verde’s Institute of Social and Legal Sciences, believes the issue lies partly in the disillusionment that many youth feel, particularly due to a lack of work opportunities and the recent growth in unemployment.
Despite younger Cape Verdeans often being involved with rallies and even campaigning for political parties, this has not reflected in voter participation in recent elections. “Young people have been socialised in a completely different context,” said Sanches. “It is important that these parties can remodel and adjust to present conjectures, responding to the needs of the country’s youth, that make up an important sector of the population.”
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
