Cape Verde lauded for peaceful election conduct
August 23, 2011The Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) West Africa office, Dr Deo Barakamfitiye, has lauded the smooth conduct of the presidential elections in Cape Verde, which saw an opposition candidate winning.
Dr Barakamfitiye, in an interview with WADR, said “Cape Verdeans have again made the West African sub-region proud with the peaceful conduct of its polls.”
On Sunday, Cape Verdeans went to the polls to elect a new president to replace Pedro Pires, whose second term runs out, in a runoff election between Jorge Carlos Fonseca of the opposition MPD party and Manuel Inocencio Sousa, the ruling party candidate.
The electoral commission late Sunday declared Fonseca the winner with over 54 percent of the vote beating Sousa, who had about 45 percent.
After the announcement by the electoral body, ruling party flag-bearer Sousa called a news conference acknowledging Fonseca's victory and congratulating him.
“This is an excellent example coming from a West African country,” said Dr Barakamfitiye, pointing out to the case of Ivory Coast where incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power, after the country’s electoral body declared his rival Alassane Ouattara the winner.
“Cape Verde is reminding us that despite all the Afro-pessimism, there are countries in which the democratic process is going on well,” he said.
Fonseca is the fourth president to rule the Atlantic archipelago nation since independence.
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