Sao Tome: Carlos Vila Nova elected president with 57.54% of vote in second round

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Sao Tome: Carlos Vila Nova elected president with 57.54% of vote in second round

11:45 CAT | 06 Sep 2021

Photo: Lusa

Carlos Vila Nova has been elected president of São Tomé and Príncipe in Sunday’s second round, with 57.54% of the vote, with a total of 45,481 votes, according to provisional results released on Monday by the National Electoral Commission (CEN).

According to the same release, the other candidate in the second round, Guilherme Posser da Costa, obtained 33,557 votes or 42.46%.

Vila Nova, who was backed by the opposition Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party, had earlier claimed victory and identified closing wounds in society as “one of the main tasks” he faced after his election.

“I consider one of the main tasks of the president-elect – when I am sworn in as President of the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe – I will have before me the pacification of Sao Tome society, which is fractured,” he said in a speech made at his campaign headquarters in Santarém, on the outskirts of the capital. “In recent years we have regrettably experienced a policy of hatred, persecution, separation and exclusion.

“And I have always said that it is necessary to fight these evils,” he continued. “Those evils are my enemies.”

The losing candidate was backed by all the parties of the current government majority: the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe – Social Democratic Party, the New Convergence Party and the UDD/MDFM coalition.

The abstention rate in Sunday’s voting was 34.68%, higher than in the first round on 18 July, when it was 31.6%.

The provisional election results were announced on Monday at 3 a.m. local time by the CEN president, Fernando Maquengo, at the institution’s headquarters in the capital.

Source: Lusa