São Tomé e Príncipe – One deputy can make a difference

An ongoing dispute in the parliament of São Tomé e Príncipe has been resolved, at least for the present.

The issue concerns Sebastião (Amândio) Pinheiro. He was elected as a deputy for the Partido da Convergência Democrática (PCD) in August 2010. Earlier this year he decided that he wished to leave the PCD and become an Independent deputy. The PCD rejected this decision and, considering Deputy Pinheiro to have resigned his seat, appointed a PCD substitute. However, Deputy Pinheiro had not formally resigned. So, parliament was operating with 56 instead of the mandated 55 deputies.

The issue remained unresolved for months. Anyway, last week the matter was decided. Téla Nón reports that the Assembly debated the situation. The opposition parties voted together to remove Deputy Pinheiro’s mandate, leaving 54 deputies in the Assembly. The vote was 28 votes to 25 with one abstention. The ruling party’s motion to allow Deputy Pinheiro to become an Independent was defeated.

The key issue here is that it makes the ruling Acção Democrática Independente (ADI) party’s position more precarious. Currently, they have 26 of the 55 seats in the parliament. So, they are in a minority, They had hoped that Deputy Pinheiro might support them. If they could then win the vote of the sole representative of the Movimento Democrático das Forças da Mudança-Partido Liberal (MDFM-PL) party, then they would have a bare majority. However, without Deputy Pinheiro the opposition PCD and Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe/Partido Social Democrata (MLSTP-PSD) parties still have a clear majority and the governing ADI is in a minority.

Recall that the president, Manuel Pinto da Costa, who was elected in August 2011, is an independent. However, prior to democratisation in 1990 he was the president of the country, which was then ruled as a one-party state by the MLSTP. So, while he seems to have been relatively inactive over the last year, he is not necessarily someone whom the government can rely on. Again, this makes their position less secure.

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