ADI admits “technical tie” of 24 terms with MLSTP in São Tomé

“ Swe have 24 mandates and we are waiting at any time for the closure of district clearances”, said Américo Ramos, in a press conference, at the party headquarters, in the capital of sãotomense.

Without declaring victory, the current Prime Minister of Santomense admitted to being ahead, arguing that the data of the National Electoral Commission (CEN) match those of the party, according to which “there is a technical draw”.

According to CEN, of the almost 150,000 registered voters, only 47,203 valid votes were counted, with the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP) guaranteeing 17,551 and ADI 17.184.

In a press conference to divulge the preliminary results, the president of CEN, Jeudiger do Nascimento, refused to advance the number of mandates won by the parties in their respective constituencies, stating that this is a jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court (TC).

A couple of hours earlier, the leader of MLSTP Américo Barros had already declared victory with more than 26 mandates, and announced for the early afternoon a march on the streets of the capital to celebrate the conquest, 24 years after being the most voted political formation in a legislative.

However, the president of the IDA rejected cleavage between the two parties and argued that it should be awaited for the official results.

“ This is no reason for any cleavage, because it is a process that will actually culminate with the nominated winner”, defended Américo Ramos without discarding the possibility of coalition with another political force to form government.

“ Having obtained no absolute majority, it is clear that everything is on the table”, he said.

The leader of the IDA was pleased with the results achieved by the party, supporting himself in the crisis and “almost internal division” of the party in recent months before the elections and reinforced with an appeal for abstention by the former Prime Minister and former President of the IDA, Patrice Trovoada.

“ This result also has a lot to do with the call for abstention that was made that unfortunately affected the results of these elections (...) the IDA came out of a very intense internal conflict, which almost divided the party. Months later, going to an election and having that number of Members, for me, represents a good result,” he said.

Contrary to the announcement by the MLSTP leader, Américo Ramos denied having congratulated his opponent on the alleged victory, having admitted that, as Prime Minister, he contacted and congratulated all party leaders on the way the elections took place, regardless of the results obtained.

“ Because I couldn't do it, because we didn't have definitive data yet. Then he would also be making some mistake, congratulating on the victory ", justified.

The president of MLSTP declared himself the winner of the Sunday legislative elections with more than 26 elected seats and promised not to disappoint the people, awaiting the official and transparent announcement of the results.

In the legislature, four parties with parliamentary seats ran: Independent Democratic Action (ADI); Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP); Coalition Independent Citizens' Movement/Party of National Unity (MCI-PUN); and Movement Enough.

And three other parties without parliamentary seats: the Democratic Convergence Party (DCP), the Democratic Movement Force of Change (MDFM) and the newly created Political Movement Our Earth.

In dispute there were 55 seats of the National Assembly and almost 150,000 voters were registered, another four thousand in relation to the presidential elections of July 19, when Carlos Vila Nova was re-elected, at the first round.