Cape Verdeans vote for president as Neves seeks second term
Six candidates are on the ballot and a runoff is set for 29 November unless one takes more than half the valid votes.
Cape Verdeans voted on Sunday in a presidential election in which incumbent José Maria Neves seeks a second term, with six candidates on the ballot in the Atlantic archipelago about 600km off Senegal and 145 foreign observers watching the count.
The National Elections Commission set polling hours from 8am to 6pm local time, The Rio Times reported. Cape Verde is one hour behind GMT, and RFI reported that provisional results were expected overnight.
Neves, 66, was first elected president in 2021. He was prime minister from 2001 to 2016 and led the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), which won May's legislative elections. He suspended his presidential duties to campaign, and the speaker of the National Assembly, Janira Hopffer Almada, is acting president, the presidency said. "In these times of international uncertainty, it is essential that Cape Verde continues to have a patriotic, experienced president capable of inspiring Cape Verdeans," Neves said this week, according to RFI.
His main challenger is Joana Rosa Amado, 61, a lawyer and former justice minister backed by the Movement for Democracy (MpD), the main opposition party. Her slogan is "Listen to Cape Verde". "The election of a woman to the presidency would show many young women and young girls that no government job is barred from them," she told reporters, RFI reported.
The elections commission ballot also lists Antero Tavares, Casimiro de Pina, Gilson Alves and Loisito de Sousa. RFI reported that Alves, a 45-year-old surgeon, is promising to fight corruption, allow gun ownership and reinstate the death penalty.
A commission list dated 6 November names 145 international observers from five organisations, according to The Rio Times. The Economic Community of West African States has the largest team at 77, followed by the African Union at 37, though the presidency put the AU mission at about 35. The Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and its electoral network ROJAE-CPLP are listed with 13 each, and the International Organisation of La Francophonie with five.
The CPLP said its own mission has 19 observers, led by Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, a former prime minister of Mozambique, a figure The Rio Times said it could not reconcile with the commission's list. The AU delegation is led by Bornito de Sousa, a former vice-president of Angola, and plans a preliminary statement on Tuesday, The Rio Times reported. The presidency said the AU mission regards Cape Verde as a reference in Africa for holding regular elections.
RFI reported that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's 2026 governance index ranks the country third of 54 in Africa. The World Bank classified Cape Verde as an upper-middle-income country in July, citing tourism growth and a 16.8 percent rise in gross national income per capita between 2023 and 2024. Voters' concerns include living costs, fuel prices, youth unemployment and emigration, along with air and sea links between the ten islands, according to RFI.
How the reports differ
RFI framed the vote around Neves's record and Cape Verde's reputation for stability, and alone profiled Gilson Alves, the surgeon promising to restore the death penalty and loosen gun laws. Punch led instead on Joana Rosa Amado as the country's first female presidential candidate challenging the incumbent. The Rio Times concentrated on process, carrying the breakdown of the 145 accredited observers by organisation, the 29 November runoff date and prediction-market odds, and noting that the CPLP's announced 19 observers do not match the 13 on the National Elections Commission list, and that ECOWAS cites about 80 rather than the 77 it listed. Ahram Online carried the election headline with no reporting of its own added.
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