São Tomé and Príncipe

Type of Government

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe has a multiparty government, based on a parliamentary model. The executive branch is jointly headed by a popularly elected president, who serves as head of state and commander of the armed forces, and an appointed prime minister, who serves as head of government. The unicameral legislature is constituted by popular vote. The judicial branch is independent of both the executive and the legislative branches and consists of a Supreme Court and lower courts.

Background

São Tomé and Príncipe are islands in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of western Africa. Archaeological evidence indicates that the islands were uninhabited before Portuguese explorers arrived in the fifteenth century. In the following decades the Portuguese government allowed private citizens and corporations to occupy the islands and establish their own administrative systems without supervision from the central government in Lisbon. São Tomé was settled in 1483; communities first appeared on Príncipe in 1500.

The Portuguese companies brought African slaves to the islands to serve as laborers on sugar plantations. By the early sixteenth century the islands had become the most productive sugar producers in the Portuguese empire—which prompted the government to take control. It established a colonial administration on São Tomé in 1522 and on Príncipe in 1575.

Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries African laborers were shipped to the islands to maintain the plantation industry. When the sugar market declined, however, so did the prosperity of the islands. In the seventeenth century the local government on São Tomé deteriorated, and hundreds of slaves escaped into the mountains. They organized a resistance movement and staged frequent raids on the plantations. The Portuguese government lent the colonists financial aid and sent troops to the islands; a majority of the escaped slaves were eventually captured.

Following the lead of other European nations, Portugal abolished slavery in 1875, but it did not enact reforms to improve working conditions or wages for African plantation workers. In addition, the colonial government did not allow African laborers to gather into political groups or to seek representation in the local government. At the beginning of the twentieth century an independence movement developed on San Tomé, resulting in organized protests and demonstrations.

After World War I the Portuguese government paid little attention to the islands, once again allowing local plantation communities and export corporations to maintain their own authority. Most of the laborers were forros (freed slaves), who, by the 1950s, were refusing to work under the conditions and compensation offered by most plantation owners. Their actions caused severe labor shortages. In 1953 a major conflict erupted on São Tomé, when the plantation owners attempted to conscript forros into labor. During the resulting riots the Portuguese killed hundreds of forros in what became known as the Batepa Massacre.

Events on São Tomé strengthened the independence movement on both islands and led to the formation of the nation’s first forro political groups. The Comité de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe, formed in 1960, became the Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe (Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe), or MLSTP, in 1972, led by economist and political leader Manuel Pinto da Costa (1937–). To avoid persecution by antiforro factions of the Portuguese administration, the MLSTP moved its headquarters to Gabon.

In 1974 Portuguese leader Marcello Caetano (1906–1980) was overthrown in the Carnation Revolution, and the new regime in Portugal wanted to divest responsibility of the nation’s African territories. Portuguese leaders met with da Costa and other MLSTP leaders in Algiers, Algeria, and arranged a schedule for the transfer of sovereignty. In July 1975 São Tomé and Príncipe received their independence, with da Costa serving as the nation’s first president.

Government Structure

The islands of São Tomé and Príncipe are divided into seven administrative districts, six on São Tomé and one on Príncipe. In 1995 the population of Príncipe voted to become an autonomous entity and is now governed by a five-member regional government. (While Príncipe is autonomous in domestic affairs, it is still officially joined with São Tomé for purposes of international representation and constitutional law.) Each of São Tomé’s six regions is led by a five-member Regional Assembly, elected by popular vote for five-year terms. All citizens age eighteen and older have the right to vote.

In the executive branch the president serves as head of state and commander of the armed forces and the prime minister is head of government. Presidential elections are conducted according to a two-round runoff system; the winning candidate must achieve an overall majority in both rounds of voting. After election the president appoints a prime minister from nominees selected by the leading party of the legislature. The prime minister, in turn, appoints leaders of the nation’s fourteen executive departments. Executive power is balanced by the legislative branch, which approves executive orders and appointments.

The unicameral National Assembly has fifty-five members, who are chosen through a system of proportional representation from multimember electoral districts. Legislators serve four-year terms; they can stand for re-election. The autonomous region of Príncipe is guaranteed representation within the National Assembly of São Tomé.

According to the constitution, the National Assembly is the most powerful body in the government. It creates and approves legislation and oversees constitutional amendments and international treaties. At its semiannual meetings it conducts legislative debates through a committee system. The members representing the majority party select the president of the assembly. When no party holds an absolute majority, coalition governments are formed.

The judicial branch is independent of both the executive and legislative branches and is responsible for executing the nation’s penal code. The highest court in the nation is the Supreme Court, with justices appointed directly by the National Assembly, to serve lifetime terms. The Supreme Court has final appellate jurisdiction and is responsible for interpreting constitutional law. It also supervises the operation of the nation’s regional and district courts.

Political Parties and Factions

The Movimento Democrático Força da Mundança–Partido da Convergência Democráica (Force for Change Democratic Movement–Democratic Convergence Party), or MDFM-PCD, which was created in 2001 to support President Fradique de Menezes (1942–), is the majority party in the legislature. In 2005 elections the MDFM-PCD received 36 percent of the popular vote and placed twenty-three candidates in the legislature. It formed a coalition with the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe–Social Democratic Party. De Menezes was reelected in July 2006, receiving more than 60 percent of the popular vote.

The Movimento de Liberta¸ão de São Tomé e Prícipe–Partido Social Democrática (Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe–Social Democratic Party), or MLSTP-PSD, is an offshoot of the 1960s political party founded under the nation’s first presidential administration. The party was initially a Marxist-communist organization but shifted its focus during the 1980s to a democratic platform. During the 2006 legislative elections, the MLSTP-PSD received the second highest percentage of the popular vote (29.5 percent) to place twenty candidates in the legislature. For the 2006 presidential elections, the MLSTP-PSD formed a coalition with the MDFM-PCD to nominate de Menezes for a second presidential term.

The Accão Democrática Independente (Independent Democratic Action Party), or ADI, was founded in 1992 to support Miguel Trovoado (1935–), the nation’s first elected president after the democratic reforms of the 1990s. In 2001 the centrist ADI Party supported Fradique de Menezes in his first successful presidential campaign; de Menezes later left the party to join the MDFM-PCD. In the 2006 presidential elections, the ADI supported former foreign minister Patrice Trovoada (1962–), the son of the former president. He received 38 percent of the popular vote, or second place, in the second-round poll. In the legislative elections that year the ADI received 20 percent of the popular vote, winning eleven seats in the legislature.

Major Events

The government under the MLSTP and President da Costa was a socialist regime with economic and diplomatic ties to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Cuba, and the People’s Republic of China. Between 1975 and 1980 da Costa arrested or exiled dozens of political leaders who opposed his policies. Miguel Trovoada, the nation’s first prime minister, was dismissed in 1979 for opposing da Costa’s domestic agenda. The following year da Costa had Trovoada arrested for treason and, after he had served a prison sentence, exiled to France.

The economies of São Tomé and Príncipe suffered in the 1980s, resulting in widespread public dissatisfaction. To avoid economic collapse da Costa began to sever ties with his former communist allies and to broaden foreign relations and trade with western nations. To prevent public unrest the administration also enacted a system of gradual democratic reforms. Da Costa pardoned political leaders who had been exiled or arrested for treason and allowed broader representation in the legislature. In 1987 the constitution was amended to allow independent and opposition party elections. The government also instituted a universal suffrage system for presidential elections, although the MLSTP was the only party permitted to nominate candidates for president. In 1988 da Costa reinstated the office of prime minister and appointed the former education minister, Celestino Rocha da Costa (1935–), who is his cousin.

Members of several opposition parties, who had been operating from exile in France, Gabon, and Cameroon, returned to São Tomé to compete in legislative elections. In 1988 Monso dos Santos and the Frente de Resistência Nacional de São Tomé–Renovada (National Resistance Front of São Tomé and Príncipe–Renewal), or FRNSTP-R, headquartered in Cameroon, launched a military expedition to overthrow the da Costa regime. Poorly armed, their coup attempt failed. Dos Santos and his supporters were arrested and imprisoned.

Da Costa’s regime was under pressure from domestic and foreign agents promoting democratization and from the rise of radical and militant opposition groups. At the MLSTP conference of 1989 the party called for multiparty competition in presidential elections and the adoption of a two-term limit for the presidency. In addition, the new constitution abolished the death penalty, revised the nation’s penal code, and constituted an independent judicial system. Dos Santos was pardoned by presidential decree and allowed to compete in the following elections.

In 1990 the MLSTP lost its legislative majority to a coalition of minority parties. The following year da Costa chose not to compete in the presidential elections, leading to a contest between minority-party candidates. Independent candidate and former prime minister Trovoada became the nation’s first democratically elected president. Though some opposition groups objected to Trovoada’s election, international observers regarded the elections as legitimate and relatively free from irregularities. In 1995 Trovoada was briefly displaced in a presidential coup, which was resolved within several months with the aid of international negotiators. Trovoada and the legislature had difficulty cooperating to enact economic reforms and infrastructural improvements. As a result, public sentiment turned against the government. Large-scale protests and demonstrations occurred in 1995 and 1996. Despite failing public support, Trovoada won re-election in 1996 with more than 52 percent of the popular vote.

Twenty-First Century

The democratic system organized in 1991 has remained relatively stable, despite contentious partisanship in the legislature. In 2001 Menezes was elected president. The military prevented two coups in 2003, after which Menezes invited opposition leaders to join in a new coalition government. During the 2006 legislative elections, Menezes’s party won a significant majority in the legislature, allowing him to institute a greater portion of his governmental agenda.

São Tomé and Príncipe had long faced significant economic difficulties because it had a weak export economy. However, the discovery of oil beneath the shared waters between São Tomé and Nigeria offers the promise of new revenue; the government is cooperating with Nigeria to develop the oil industry. That investment, along with an increase in the price of cocoa, an export crop, have helped to foster moderate economic growth.

Garfield, Robert. A History of São Tomé Island, 1470–1655: The Key to Guinea. Lewiston, NY: Mellen University Press, 1992.

Seibert, Gerhard. Comrades, Clients and Cousins: Colonialism, Socialism, and Democratization in São Tomé and Príncipe. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006.

Torp, Jens Eric, L. M. Denny, and Donald I. Ray. Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe: Economics, Politics and Society. London: Pinter Publishers, 1990.