São Tomé: Rejected MCI-PS/PUN candidacy in five electoral cycles

Com the declaration of ineligibility of the candidates for not having signed the lists, the TC referred in the judgment that decided to “reject the candidates and their lists presented by the Coalition Independent Citizens Movement/Socialist Party and National Unity Party (MCI/PS-PUN) to the legislative elections of 27 September [...] for the electoral circles of Mé-Zóchi, Lobata, Cantagalo, Lembá and Diaspora, because the total number of effective candidates and alternates no longer make up the required number in the electoral law”.

With the decision, the Coalition is entered in the legislative elections only in the electoral circles of Água Grande, Caué and the Autonomous Region of the Prince.

In the judgment, dated Friday, the TC also stated that it decided to “extract and refer due certificates to the Public Prosecutor for the proper effects”, considering that the falsification of signatures is a crime provided for in the penal code of São Tomé and Príncipe.

The Court indicated that the decision arose following complaints from candidates from the MCI/PS-PUN coalition who reported to the TC that “they did not give consent, nor did they grant the leadership of the said coalition permission to include their names in the aforementioned lists, and that they did not want to run for legislative elections” as candidates for Members, requesting “that their names be removed from the lists” of the MCI-PS/PUN.

The TC added that following the complaint it verified all the lists of the coalition and concluded that the signatures “are false to the extent that they do not correspond to those contained in their identity cards with the records”.

He also pointed out that he called on some candidates to confront the signatures and notified the representative of the coalition who submitted a joint declaration with signatures of all those concerned, in which the Court considered that he came to prove that “actually the statements subject to complaints were endorsed in an adulterated manner, when confronted with those actually subsequently endorsed by the respective candidates”.

Before disclosing the judgment the president of the TC, Artur Vera Cruz explained the decision in statements to the São Tomense Television (TVS), on Friday.

The campaign for the legislative, local and regional elections of 27 September in São Tomé and Príncipe started today, with the participation of parties with parliamentary seats: Independent Democratic Action (ADI), Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP), Coalition Movement of Independent Citizens-Party Socialist/Party of National Unity (MCI-PS/PUN) and Movement Enough.

In addition, three parties without a parliamentary seat, namely the Democratic Convergence Party (DCP), the Democratic Movement Force of Change (MDFM) and the newly created Political Movement Our Earth, are attending these elections.

For the legislatures are at stake 55 seats of the National Assembly, whose winning party should be called by the President of the Republic to form the next Government.

São Tomé and Príncipe held presidential elections on July 19, with Carlos Vila New re-elected in the first round with 55.88% of the votes, against Nito D’Abreu (41.46%), Miques João (1.59%) and Eugenius Tiny (1.07%).

More than 146,000 voters are registered for the legislature, local and regional on 27th, an increase of almost four thousand registered in relation to the President of July 19th, said the president of the National Election Commission (CEN), Jeudiger Nascimento.