Vote-counting was underway Sunday after people in the Atlantic archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, regarded as a model of democracy in Africa, cast ballots Sunday in a presidential election.
Outgoing President Carlos Vila Nova faces party rival Nito Viegas D’Abreu, a current member of parliament backed by former prime minister Patrice Trovoada, along with two independent candidates.
If no candidate gains more than 50 percent of Sunday’s vote, there will be a second-round run-off on August 9.
National Electoral Commission chief Jeudiger Nascimento voiced concern about low turnout, saying many people had gone to polling stations without casting ballots, though he gave no official figures.
A former Portuguese colony in the Gulf of Guinea, the island nation of 200,000 inhabitants has a history marked by attempted coups including one in 2022 that was promptly thwarted by the military.
The scattering of islands off the coast of western equatorial Africa is now viewed as a model of African parliamentary democracy.
The president has a largely ceremonial role, responsible for representation and the promulgation of laws, while most executive powers lie with the prime minister.
Vila Nova, 66, elected president in 2021 with his Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party’s support, is casting himself as the guarantor of the “political stability of the country”.
He has faced criticism for dismissing former prime minister Trovoada in January 2025, a move ruled one year later to be contrary to the constitution.
