Legislative in Cape Verde: an election dominated by economic difficulties

In the district of Palmarejo, in Praia, on April 18, 2021, during the legislative elections.

AFP - SEYLLOU

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The voters of this archipelago of more than 550,000 inhabitants located off the coast of Senegal were called to the polls for the legislative elections this Sunday, April 18.

The voting day took place without incident, like this country which is seen as a democratic model on the continent.

The ballot was above all dominated by the economic difficulties that Cape Verde is going through, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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A woman at the head of the Cape Verdean government would be a first.

If the lawyer and former Minister of Youth Janira Hopffer Almada succeeds, it will mean that the PAICV, a socialist tendency, returns to power five years after its historic defeat in 2016, which ended fifteen years of rule.

But outgoing Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva of the center-right MPD party believes in his chances.

He even expressed, when slipping his ballot into the ballot box, his hope of retaining an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

In fact, the ballot is very uncertain and neither of the two main parties can claim the title of favorite.

A very political issue

Whatever the outcome of the vote, the stake is in any case political and not democratic, because the alternation in Cape Verde is no longer a problem since 1990 and the end of the single party.

No ballot has known violence or contestation since that date.

On the other hand, the archipelago is concerned about the state of its economy: 25% of its national wealth comes from tourism, an activity undermined by the Covid pandemic

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19. In 2020, the Cape Verdean economy experienced an unprecedented recession of nearly 15%.

See also:

Cape Verde: legislative elections in a context of pandemic

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