Praia – Cape Verde’s new president Jose Maria Neves vowed to defend his island nation’s “strength and stability” as he took his oath of office on Tuesday after cruising to electoral victory last month.
Neves, a 61-year-old Socialist, notched up a first-round win in a country acclaimed as a model of democracy in West Africa.
In his inaugural speech, Neves said he would strengthen Cape Verde’s relations with its neighbours and regional bloc ECOWAS and with fellow Portuguese-speaking nations.
“Security and stability are strategic resources for Cape Verde and I will pay particular attention” to them, he added.
The former prime minister ran for the opposition African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), which ruled the former Portuguese colony when it was a one-party state.
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He won the October 18 elections with 51.7 percent of the vote, obviating the need for a runoff ballot.
Presidents who attended the inauguration included Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Senegal’s Macky Sall and Angola’s Joao Lourenco.
The United States sent a high-level delegation headed by Labour Secretary Marty Walsh, a move that it said reflected support for democratic governance and peaceful transitions of power.
On election night, Neves vowed to be impartial and work together with the country’s centre-right prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva.
Under the semi-parliamentary political system, the prime minister has executive powers while the president acts as arbiter.
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Cape Verde staged its first free elections in 1991, 16 years after gaining independence from Portugal.
Since then, it has never recorded any violence linked to elections.
The country is ranked second to Mauritius for governance in Africa on the index drawn up by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Its biggest current worries are the economy and inflation.
The GDP of the tourism-dependent archipelago shrank by 14.8 percent last year, battered by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the cost of water and electricity soared more than a third last month.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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