|
 |
 | | | | | |
| | You are in: World: Africa | |||
 | | Tuesday, 19 March, 2002, 22:40 GMT Former Marxists win Sao Tome vote  The president's supporters were hoping for a majority A former Marxist party has won a majority of seats in elections in the West African archipelago of Sao Tome e Principe, the country's supreme court has ruled. Preliminary results had put the former Marxist Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome e Principe (MLSTP) neck and neck with the Democratic Movement of Forces for Change (MDFM) of President Fradique de Menezes, with 23 seats each in the 55-seat parliament.
The party's victory means that the next prime minister in the former Portuguese colony is now expected to come from its ranks. Dashed hopes The MLSTP was the country's sole political party between 1975 and 1991. It had an absolute majority in the outgoing parliament, but was excluded from government after President de Menezes was inaugurated last year. Correspondents say the result is a blow to Mr de Menezes, who had set his hopes on forming his own government. The president, a wealthy cocoa exporter, was elected in July 2001 with 65% of the vote. | | See also:  Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Africa stories now:  Links to more Africa stories are at the foot of the page. | |
|
Links to more Africa stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend