KABU VERDI
— Also: Cabo Verde.
— Officially: República de Cabo Verde.
— English: Cape Verde.
— Seat of government: Praia.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The president is elected directly; parliament (Assembleia Nacional) is chosen through party-list proportional representation in geographical constituencies, and chooses the prime minister.
— Governing parties: Movimento para a Democracia; Partido Africano para a Independência de Cabo Verde.
— Heads of government: Jorge Carlos Fonseca, MpD, president; José Maria Neves, PAICV, prime minister.
— Other parliamentary parties: União Caboverdiana Independente e Democrática.
— Assessment: The PAICV ran a one-party state from independence in 1975 until 1991, with Aristides Pereira as president and Pedro Pires as prime minister throughout. Free elections were held in 1991, and the MpD won both the presidency and the parliament, with António Mascarenhas Monteiro (1991-2001) becoming president and Carlos Veiga becoming prime minister. For years the new two-party system was essentially a two-person rivalry between Pires (president 2001-11) and Veiga (PM 1991-2000). After defeating Veiga by just twelve votes in 2001, Pires defeated him again in 2006 by just over three thousand. The PAICV also won parliamentary elections in 2001 and 2006, and Neves became prime minister. In 2011, the PAICV won a bare majority in parliament, and Fonseca defeated Manuel Inocêncio Sousa of PAICV in the second round of the presidential election. Fonseca was reelected in 2016.
— FH: 1-1, free. Econ: 7.92 (26), flawed democracy.
— Updated: 2016 October 7.
O.T. FORD