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São Tomé and Príncipe

Country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of West Africa.

Government

The 1990 constitution provides for a single-chamber, 55-member national assembly, directly elected for a four-year term. The president is also directly elected for a five-year term, renewable only once. The president appoints the prime minister from candidates nominated by the assembly.

History

The islands were uninhabited until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1471, who brought convicts and exiled Jews to work on sugar plantations. Later slavery became the main trade, and in the 19th century forced labour was used on coffee and cocoa plantations.

Independence

As a Portuguese colony, São Tomé and Príncipe acquired internal self-government in 1973. After the military coup in Portugal in 1974, the new government in Lisbon formally recognized the liberation movement, led by Dr Manuel Pinto da Costa, as the sole representative of the people of the islands and granted full independence in July 1975.

Dr da Costa became the first president, and in December a national people's assembly was elected. During the first few years of his presidency there were several unsuccessful attempts to depose him, and small opposition groups still operate from outside the country, mainly from Lisbon.

International links

With a worsening economy, da Costa began to reassess his country's international links, which had made it too dependent on the Eastern bloc and, in consequence, isolated from the West. In 1984 he proclaimed that in future São Tomé and Príncipe would be a non-aligned state, and the number of Angolan, Cuban, and Soviet advisers in the country was sharply reduced. Gradually São Tomé and Príncipe turned towards nearby African states such as Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea, as well as maintaining its links with Lisbon.

Democratic elections

In 1987 the constitution was amended, making the president subject to election by popular vote, and in 1988 an attempted coup against him was foiled. In 1990 a new constitution, introducing multiparty politics, was approved by referendum. In the first multiparty elections for the assembly in January 1991, the ruling Movimiento de Libertaçao de São Tomé e Príncipe-Partido Social Democrata (MLSTP-PSD; Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe-Social Democratic Party) lost its majority. In the first free presidential elections in March, Miguel Trovoada won the presidency, after da Costa withdrew. In 1994 the national assembly chose Carlos da Graca to be the new prime minister. In 1994 the assembly began considering draft legislation, which would grant the island of Príncipe greater autonomy. The MLSTP-PSD was returned to power in the October 1994 elections. Junior army officers launched an attempted coup in August 1995, but within days power was handed back to the civilian government.

The November 1998 general election resulted in an absolute assembly majority for the MLSTP-PSD.

In presidential elections in July 2001, entrepreneur Fradique de Menezes defeated the Marxist former president Manuel Pinto da Costa. Evaristo Carvalho became prime minister. In March 2002, the MLSTP-PSD narrowly won parliamentary elections only just ahead of the right-wing alliance of the Mouvement démocratique des forces du changement (MDFM; Force for Change Democratic Movement) and the Partido de Convergência Democrática (PCD; Democratic Covergence Party). Independent candidate Gabriel Costa became prime minister, heading a broad coalition government. Zeferino dos Prazeres became president of the regional government of Príncipe.

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