Cape Verde holds presidential vote on 15 November as Neves seeks second term

Six candidates on the ballot

Polls opened on 15 November in Cape Verde, where voting runs from 8am to 6pm local time, which is 09:00 to 19:00 GMT. Six presidential candidates are standing, and President Jose Maria Neves, aged 66, is tipped as the favourite to win a second term. Neves, a member of the PAICV, the country's oldest political party, served 15 years as prime minister before taking the presidency in 2021. His strongest challenger is Joana Rosa of the Movement for Democracy, a former justice minister and the first woman to run for president since independence in 1975. Four other opposition candidates complete the field. Al Jazeera puts the number of eligible voters at more than 300,000, while Público reports 343,065 registered voters inside the country and 76,383 abroad.

Inside Cape Verde343,065

Abroad76,383

Inside Cape Verde

343065 voters

Abroad

76383 voters

Data from the article text

Emigration as the campaign issue

The campaign centres on slowing emigration, a long-running problem in an archipelago where jobs are scarce. Cape Verde has more people living in the diaspora than the roughly 500,000 people residing on its islands, and most emigrants are in Portugal, the former colonial power, and in the United States. Nearly 77,000 Cape Verdeans abroad are registered to vote at embassies, according to Al Jazeera. Neves has promised a youth summit on emigration if voters return him to office. Rosa has called for a government that gives young people a reason to build their futures at home rather than leave.

Logistics and the political backdrop

Most polling stations are housed in schools, and the National Directorate of Education suspended classes in all schools across the country for Monday, 16 November, so that the buildings could be cleaned and reorganised. Público counts 1,039 polling stations inside the country and 243 in the diaspora. Neves's party won 37 of 72 parliamentary seats in the May vote, which allowed him to appoint Francisco Carvalho, then mayor of the capital Praia, as prime minister. Rosa's Movement for Democracy governed for 10 years before that May vote. The political system mixes parliamentary and presidential features, and the president holds veto power along with a mediating function.

Inside Cape Verde1,039

Abroad243

Inside Cape Verde

1039 polling stations

Abroad

243 polling stations

Data from the article text

Pública notes that every president since the first elections in 1991 has been re-elected, which frames the incumbent's position as the favourite. Público describes the race as one with six candidates and a clear front-runner.

Voter distance and what comes next

Many voters feel distant from the political class, in part because they believe it does not understand their daily difficulties. Roselma Evora, a professor of political science and gender studies at the University of Cabo Verde, made this point to The Associated Press. Earlier this year the men's national football team reached the World Cup knockout stages, which brought the archipelago global attention. In April, a cruise ship sailing off the coast was struck by a hantavirus outbreak. Results were not yet available at the time of writing, and polls close at 6pm local time.