Donors to continue support for elections

A decision by the Government of Sao Tome and Principe to hold early legislative elections will not affect a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) donor-funded US $800,000 programme to the country's electoral process, a United Nations official told IRIN on Wednesday. Donors, who last year supported civic education, and provided materials and communications equipment for elections, were however awaiting an official announcement from the President's office that the elections has been brought forward from October to February 2002, before deciding how UNDP would support the upcoming legislative polls, Alejandro Diz Rodreguez head of UNDP's technical assistance project for elections said. "We have heard the Prime Minister say legislative elections will be held earlier. We are going to assist these elections but are still waiting for a formal date to be announced. In the long run, the focus will be on long-term advocacy and assistance to organise the electoral bodies," Rodreguez said. Prime Minister Evaristo de Carvalho was quoted by the Spanish news agency, Lusa, on Tuesday, as confirming that legislative elections in the twin-island Atlantic republic will be held early. Voting will take place 90 days after dissolution of parliament by end of November. Preparatory work for the election is already underway with updating of electoral rolls and setting up of the National Electoral Commission. "We are preparing for the next elections and President Fradique de Menezes has already begun contacts with parties with a view to starting the process of dissolving parliament. From this moment, the law states that the election must take place within 90 days", Lusa quoted de Carvalho as saying. Dissolving parliament is expected to resolve a political stalemate since September when the country's main opposition party, Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP), led by Guilhereme Posser da Costa, failed to reach an agreement with Menezes on the composition of a new government. The president, who was sworn into office on 3 September, went ahead to appoint a government. Last week, the MLSTP party formally abandoned parliament after repeated calls to Menezes to include them in the government or to call early elections. A censure motion to this effect was passed by parliament in October but Menezes later decided to exercise his prerogative to dissolve parliament. But diplomats in Sao Tome said Menezes bowed to pressure from the opposition to call early elections. De Carvalho was quoted by Lusa, as saying, "given that the majority party in the National Assembly (the MLSTP) decided to abandon the Sao Tome parliament, it is now not worth the trouble to present the government's program".