President of São Tomé calls for the vote: “abstention trivializes”

“ A abstention trivializes. The vote helps strengthen the republic and build a better future for the people. Voting is a civic right and duty that should not be neglected. Brothers, all votes are important and every vote counts. I therefore urge you to go massively to the polls,” said Carlos Vila Nova, in a video published on social network Facebook on the last day of the election campaign.

“Join massively in the electoral act. Whatever your convictions, your political preferences or your criticism of the system, show us where they really count and where they have the legal and political strength to transform reality,” said the head of state, elected in July, in a record abstention of 58.81%.

The President also took the opportunity to “call on competing political forces in these elections, their militants, and the people in general” to “wait with civility and serenity for the completion of work aimed at the clearance and dissemination of results (...). And that they respect the will of the people manifested in the polls”.

Carlos Vila Nova also left one last word for the National Electoral Commission (CEN), to citizens who will ensure the functioning of the voting tables, police forces and the media: “that your work be done with the highest degree of responsibility and within the highest level of lawfulness, so as not to pinch the transparency and security that the electoral act should be put on”.

The municipal and regional elections of 27 September in São Tomé and Príncipe run for four parliamentary parties: 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.

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

For the legislatures are in dispute 55 seats of the National Assembly and are registered more than 146 thousand voters, an increase of almost 4,000 compared to the presidential elections of 19 July, when Carlos Vila Nova was re-elected, at the first round.