The presidential campaign is in full swing in Cape Verde. Incumbent President José Maria Neves is pressing on with his tour ahead of the November 15 election and held a rally in São Vicente, one of the archipelago’s key islands. Should no candidate secure a majority, a runoff is scheduled for November 29.
Now 66, the former prime minister who led the government from 2001 to 2016 rose to the presidency in 2021. He made his candidacy official in Praia on September 14, saying he wanted to put his experience toward the causes he championed during his first term. In keeping with Cape Verdean practice, he immediately suspended his duties to campaign, with Janira Hopffer Almada serving as acting president.
The political landscape has shifted considerably since 2021. His former party won the May legislative elections, bringing an end to the cohabitation with the Movement for Democracy (MpD) that defined most of his term. Neves is therefore running as a head of state aligned with Francisco Carvalho’s government rather than as a counterweight to it. On policy, he advocates replacing the semi-presidential system with a presidential one in which the head of state would lead the government.
Opposite him, the Constitutional Court approved six candidacies out of eleven applications filed. The ballot will feature Antero Tavares, Casimiro de Pina, José Maria Neves, Gilson Alves, Joana Rosa and Loisito Tavares de Sousa. Only Neves and Rosa enjoy the backing of the two major parties, the latter being the former justice minister endorsed by the MpD.
Formally, the presidency stands above party politics: Cape Verdean law bars the head of state from belonging to a political party, although parties may support a candidate. In 2021, Neves won in the first round with 51.79% of the vote. Whether voters, with no independent poll to guide them as of mid-October, will grant him the same confidence remains to be seen.