The voting for the legislative, municipal and regional elections in São Tomé and Príncipe “is going well”, with some delays and with the exception of the boycott in Bairro do Hospital, in the capital, according to the National Electoral Commission (CEN).
“Everything is going well, with the exception of the 31st district” of the Bairro do Hospital, with four polling stations and 1,093 voters, CEN spokesman Víctor Correia announced today at a press conference.
According to the official, “all the polling stations have been opened worldwide”, with the exception of the Bairro do Hospital, where “the neighbors demand water and condition the vote”.
In this constituency, he added, there will be no voting today, because the law indicates that if it is not possible to start within two hours of the official opening of the polls (07:00 local time, plus one hour in Lisbon), “the Electoral college ceases to function.
Víctor Correia indicated that “there were slight delays” in the start of the vote in “some polling stations” throughout the country, which was justified by the transportation problems that the Government made available to send the material to the schools. electoral.
“Unfortunately the transport did not arrive on time or in quantity,” said the spokesman.
In another locality, Angra Toldo Cavalete, in the district of Cantagalo (east of the island of São Tomé), there was a “small problem”, where the population prevented the opening of the polling station because a member of the polling station does not belong to that district. , but the matter has already been resolved,” he said.
Regarding electoral participation, Víctor Correia affirmed that the situation is not uniform at the national level: there is good participation in the districts of Lembá, Caué and Lobata, while the vote is weaker in Água Grande, where the capital of Sao Tome. . .
“It’s normal. Today is Sunday, many people go to mass, and in this first period the turnout is lower. Normally people wait until the end of the afternoon,” he said.
The approximately 123,000 voters of São Tomé and Príncipe vote today in the legislative, municipal and regional elections, and the diaspora voters elect, for the first time, two deputies for Europe and Africa.
The polls opened at 07:00 and closed at 17:00 local time (one more hour in Lisbon). In the two islands that make up the country there will be a total of 309 polling stations for the 123,301 voters.
In total, 11 parties and movements, including a coalition, are competing today for the 55 seats in the National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe.
For the first time, 14,692 citizens residing in 10 European and African countries elect a deputy for each constituency. The remaining 53 deputies are elected by the six districts of the island of São Tomé and the Príncipe region.
The voters of São Tomé also have to elect the next presidents of the municipalities and the regional government of Príncipe will also vote.
Source: Observadora
