Re-elected leader says Cape Verdean ruling party came out stronger in elections

Re-elected Democratic Party President and Cape Verdean Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said on Monday that the party has become “stronger” as a result of internal elections, in which it first faced an opponent in a leadership dispute.

“IPD [Movimento para a Democracia, no poder desde 2016] emerges stronger from these elections. At the local level, at the level of municipalities, regions and the country, we once again demonstrated our union and our strength,” said Ulisses Correia i Silva in a message of gratitude for the Sunday vote, published today on his official account. on the social network Facebook.

“I want to congratulate and thank the PDM activists for another victory and for the trust placed in me to manage the fate of this great party. This is a victory for Democracy and freedom. For the party, for the country,” he said. .

Ulisse Correia e Silva was re-elected on Sunday as head of Cape Verde’s ruling party with more than 90% of the vote.

“Given the data already presented, we can say that the victory will go to the candidate Ulisses Correia and Silva,” Silvano Barros from the Campaign Support Office said at 20:30 local time (22:30 in Lisbon). Process (GAPE) parties, press conference on the beach.

In this election, Ulysse Correia e Silva, the current president, and Orlando Diaz, the current party deputy, ran for leader of the Democratic Party, with 4,440 militants able to vote in the diaspora and 28,058 in Cape Verde.

Silvano Barros added that these are still “partial results” given the “large number of polling stations” for voting in Cape Verde and in the diaspora, as well as “communication problems”.

“We expect that candidate Ulisses Correia y Silva will get more than 90% of votes. We think it will be a meaningful vote,” he added.

“This election, as we know and have had the opportunity to condemn it several times, is taking place in conditions of great inequality between candidates, with my opponent benefiting from the use of party and state resources,” he accused already during the early hours of the morning, Orlando Diaz, the loser candidate in these internal elections.

He reiterated that “the scheme set up worked very well”, alleging electoral fraud, and that after ten years at the head of the SDA and in the middle of his second term as Prime Minister of Cape Verde, “Ulysses Correia de Silva leaves weakened from the these elections”, while a significant part of the party did not consider its leadership, also hinting at abstention in this electoral act.

“The result of the elections, although far from what we expected, translates into a clear manifestation of the strength, power and future of the ideas that we embody,” said the PDM MP.

Voting took place in 283 polling stations in 22 municipalities of Cape Verde, as well as in 29 polling stations in the diaspora, namely in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy and the United States of America America.

According to GAPE, “the elections were held in a generally good atmosphere” and with “a significant number of votes”, with no known cases of electoral fraud, according to candidate Orlando Diaz.

Ulisse Correia e Silva has been Prime Minister of Cape Verde since 2016 and was first elected President of the MpD in 2013, the first time he faced a rival slate for the position, in this case led by Deputy Orlando Diaz. .

The elections also elected delegates to the XIII National Assembly, scheduled for May 26-28.

Ulisse Correia e Silva was re-elected President of the MpD on February 9, 2020 with 99% of the vote, leading the only list put to the vote.

In those SDA presidential elections, for which 31,541 militants were registered (against 29,449 in the previous elections), 18,250 people voted (more than 41% abstained).

Ulisse Correia e Silva was first elected President of the MpD in 2013 with 98% of the vote and was reappointed three years later with 99% of the vote, always as the only candidate.