Two candidates are vying to succeed Sao Tome and Principe’s leader, Evaristo Carvalho in Sunday’s presidential election.
Carvalho who has been president since 2016 is not seeking re-election.
The President has largely ceremonial powers, he may arbitrate disputes but does not govern.
The first round was held without major incident, July 18. The outcome of the vote has been disputed.
Carlos Vila Nova of the center-right opposition Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party led the first round of voting on July 18 with 43.3 percent of the vote.
His opponent for the runoff is Guilherme Posser da Costa of the center-left Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP) party, who scored 20.7 percent.
The third-placed candidate, Delfim Neves, had alleged fraud during the ballot and demanded a recount.
Carlos Vila Nova and his supporters had also questioned the results suggesting that Nova’s actual support was higher than the official National Electoral Commission (NEC) result of 39.4 percent.
Presidential elections were held in São Tomé and Príncipe on 18 July 2021. As no presidential candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was originally scheduled to be held on 8 August 2021. However, following an objection to the first-round result, the second round was postponed to 29 August 2021, and later postponed again to 5 September 2021.
The President of São Tomé and Príncipe is elected by a two-round system for a five year term. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the initial vote, a run-off is conducted between the top two candidates.
The country is a former Portuguese colony of 210,000 people that is widely considered a beacon of parliamentary democracy in West Africa.
africanews.