The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has deployed election observers across all nine inhabited islands of Cabo Verde to monitor the country’s presidential election held on Saturday, expressing confidence in the peaceful conduct of the electoral process.
The regional bloc said its pre-election assessment had identified no significant threat to the peaceful conduct of the poll, describing the island nation as a strong democratic example in a West African region grappling with political instability and unconstitutional changes of government.
The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission, led by former Gambian Vice-President, H.E. Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang, completed its pre-election engagements in Praia, the country’s capital, with activities including the deployment of observers, consultations with international partners and meetings with presidential candidates.
The deployment on November 13 was accompanied by an engagement with the United Nations Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simão, who underscored ECOWAS’s leadership in addressing political and security challenges in the region.
“No one is more important than ECOWAS in this region,” Simão said, reaffirming the importance of regional cooperation in safeguarding democratic processes and political stability.
On November 14, Jallow-Tambajang met with presidential candidate José Maria Neves and convened a meeting of heads of international election observation missions at the ECOWAS Situation Room in Praia.
The meeting brought together representatives of the African Union (AU), the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), the Network of Jurisdictional and Electoral Administration Bodies of the CPLP (ROJAE-CPLP) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF).
The ECOWAS Head of Mission was supported by the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Francess Piagie Alghali, who is leading the technical team of the observation mission.
Presenting the mission’s pre-election assessment, Alghali said the organisation had not identified any major security concern that could undermine the peaceful conduct of the election.
“At this stage, ECOWAS sees no significant threat to the peaceful conduct of the presidential election. Cabo Verde remains a strong democratic example within the West African region,” she said.
The coordinated engagement among the international observation missions was aimed at strengthening cooperation, information-sharing and a common understanding of developments surrounding the electoral process.
During Saturday’s election, Jallow-Tambajang was scheduled to observe the opening of polls in Palmarejo, Praia, visit polling stations in Tira Chapéu, Várzea and Achadinha, and return to Palmarejo to observe the closing and counting of votes, while other ECOWAS observers monitored proceedings across the country’s nine inhabited islands.
The mission is expected to issue its preliminary statement on the electoral process on November 17.
The election is significant against the background of Cabo Verde’s reputation for political stability and peaceful democratic transitions in a region that has experienced military coups, political instability and contested transfers of power.
Cabo Verde transitioned from a one-party system to multiparty democracy in 1991, when the opposition Movement for Democracy (MpD) defeated the long-ruling African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAICV) in the country’s first multiparty elections. Since then, the two major political parties have alternated in power through elections.
The November 15 presidential election is the country’s sixth presidential contest since the introduction of multiparty democracy and features six candidates, including incumbent Neves, who is seeking a second five-year term, and former Justice Minister Joana Rosa, the country’s first female presidential candidate.
Neves won the October 2021 presidential election with approximately 51.7 per cent of the votes, defeating his main challenger, Carlos Veiga, who secured about 42.4 per cent.
Under Cabo Verde’s semi-presidential system, the president is directly elected and exercises constitutional responsibilities that include signing or vetoing legislation, while the prime minister exercises most executive powers. The presidential contest therefore also has implications for the country’s institutional balance and political relations between the presidency and government.
The ECOWAS deployment forms part of the organisation’s broader mandate to promote democratic governance, credible elections and political stability among its member states.
Through its nationwide observation, engagement with political stakeholders and coordination with other international missions, ECOWAS is supporting efforts to ensure a transparent and peaceful electoral process, with its preliminary assessment expected to provide further insights into the conduct of the vote.
