Daily Times

PRAIA: Campaigning has begun ahead of an October 2 presidential election in the tiny Atlantic island state of Cape Verde, where the liberal Movement for Democracy (MPD) hopes to return its candidate to power for a second term. Incumbent Jorge Carlos Fonseca, 66, began a tour of markets in the capital, Praia, on Thursday, bolstered by landslide victories in municipal elections held two weeks ago and a general election in March. In Cape Verde, home to 500,000 people and considered one of the most democratic countries in the world, executive power lies mainly with the prime minister, who is chosen by the largest party in parliament. Fonseca faces two independent candidates: veteran political campaigner Joaquim Monteiro, 75, a key player in the country’s fight for independence from Portugal in the 1970s; and university rector Albertino Graca, 57. The MPD’s electoral success in March saw it unseat the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) after 15 years in power. The PAICV has yet to recover and will not field a presidential candidate after rejecting ouvertures from Graca and following the resignation submitted by leader Janira Hopffer Almada, stung by the municipal poll defeat. The archipelago of 10 islands elected Fonseca for the first time in 2011, and he is campaigning on a record of stability and a promise to “confront the challenges of economic growth, reducing unemployment and the need to give our young people more hope.” High youth unemployment helped to unseat the PAICV, which ruled Cape Verde as a single party before winning the country’s first multiparty elections in 1991 and the next ones four years later.