São Toméan presidential election 2016

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Presidential election in São Tomé e Príncipe will be held on 17/7.

STP is  a small island state off the coast of West Africa, which is a former Portuguese colony with around 111,000 voters. It has had multi-party democracy since 1990 and its a free election.

There are five candidates:

Incumbent President Manuel Pinto da Costa (78), ex-PM, elected 2011 as an Indie, but a former Communist, who was president/dictator 1975-90.
Former Prime Minister Maria das Neves (58), ex-PM and current Vice President of the National Assembly from the ex-Communust MLSTP-PSD, the largest opposition party.
Evaristo de Carvalho (74), ex-PM from the ruling centre-right ADI, which won the 2014 election.

The remaining contenders are two Indies.

Manuel do Rosario (57), devout Catholic biology teacher, claiming to be appointed to be the next President by God.. 
Hélder Barros, economist, former Minister of Economic Affairs and high ranking UN-official. Currently doing postgraduate studies in International Relations at LSE (while not running for president..).

There is a short intro to the candidates below (and decent wiki articles on some of them).
goodcountry.org/global-vote/elections/saeo-tome-and-principe/candidates/manuel-do-rosario

It was expected Costa would retire, but African presidents hardly ever do that. The two indies probably have no chance. So its Neves against the two old men, which is a shame because Barros would likely be the best of them.

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africanarguments.org/2016/07/14/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sao-tome-and-principes-presidential-elections/

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Evaristo Carvalho from ADI narrowly avoided a run-off by getting 50.1% and for the first time since 1991 the same party is in government and holds the presidency after São Toméan voters have avoided "one-party rule" since the introduction of multi-party politics. Costa (running as an Indie) and Neves split the MLSTP vote.

Evaristo Carvalho (ADI) 34,629 50.1%
Manuel Pinto da Costa (Independent) 17,121 24.8%
Maria das Neves (MLSTP/PSD) 16,638 24.1%
Manuel do Rosário (Independent) 488 0.7%
Hélder Barros (Independent) 194 0.3%

Turnout was 64.1%.

cen.st/index.php/publicacoes/noticias/item/212-resultados-geral-das-eleicoes-presidenciais-2016

Neves won her native Príncipe (Pagué constituency on the map); Carvalho won all other constituencies, though Neves was fairly close to winning the expat vote.

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District map:

[uhurasmazda]

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From AfricanNews:

"The results of the presidential election held in Sao Tome and Principe on Sunday has been canceled, ending the short-lived victory of the ruling party candidate and former prime minister Evaristo Carvalho.

The cancellation, announced by the Election Commission (CEN), paves the way for a second round between Carvalho and the incumbent President Manuel Pinto da Costa, the CEN and Constitutional Court confirmed on Friday.

The CEN canceled the results because of changes in the provisional results affected by vote counts from the diaspora (Portugal, Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea) and a delayed vote on Wednesday in the town of Maria Luisa.

“No candidate managed to get more than half the votes validly cast which makes way for a second round,” the CEN said after returning to the Constitutional Court for the final results.

The Constitutional Court also endorsed the second round between Carvalho and President Pinto da Costa, without specifying a date."

(which sounds weird as 7th August was set aside for it)

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The 2nd round will be on 7th August.

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"Held up as a regional model of democracy, the former Portuguese colony is mired in its worst crisis in a quarter-century of multiparty politics. In the first round of voting on July 17, former prime minister Evaristo Carvalho, the ruling party candidate, initially seemed to have scraped past the 50 percent needed for an outright win. Election officials then revised Carvalho's tally downwards to 49.8 percent and the share of 79-year-old President Manuel Pinto da Costa to 24.83 percent, thus prompting a runoff. But Pinto da Costa, who had lashed the process as a fraud and demanded it be scrapped, announced he would not contest the second round. Carvalho on Sunday called on "all residents of Sao Tome and Principe to exercise their right to vote" and confirm his first-round victory.

(...)

Carvalho accused Pinto da Costa of "pulling out to avoid losing the election." However turnout appeared to be low. By mid-afternoon there was very little activity at most of the polling stations in the capital. "I think abstention will be the big winner," said sociologist Olivio Diogo."

www.yahoo.com/news/sao-tome-votes-runoff-boycotted-president-032621810.html?nhp=1

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A little over 51,000 votes in the uncontested 2nd round. Roughly 18,000 less than in the first round. Carvalho increased his vote with about 8,000 votes. It should be enough to claim he has a legitimate mandate, but the claim of foul play and subsequent boycott will likely haunt STP. Sad, since they have had a fine electoral standard despite some problems with vote buying.