President calls for ban on vote buying

Sao Tome and Principe's president has urged parliament to introduce laws against vote buying, which he said was rampant during a legislative election held in March, the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported. President Fradique de Menezes was speaking on Thursday during the first session of Sao Tome's seventh parliament. Lusa quoted him as saying that he "vehemently condemn(ed) the damaging phenomenon of compromising the duty to free voting through large amounts of money and goods". He added: "This misrepresents the principle of universal suffrage." The new parliament, elected on 3 March, is made up of the opposition Sao Tome and Principe Liberation Movement (MLSTP - Portuguese abbreviation), which has 24 seats, the Democratic Movement Force for Change/Party of Democratic Governance (MDFM/PCD - 23 seats) and the Ue-Kedadji coalition (eight seats). Lusa said that in the run up to the election, the MLSTP was accused by its opponents of receiving financial backing from Angola's ruling MPLA party. The MLSTP, for its part, accused De Menezes' MDFM/Ue-Kedadji coalition of being backed by Taiwan and Nigeria. Menezes called elections after he disagreed with then prime minister Gilherme Posser da Costa (MLSTP) on the composition of a new cabinet and bypassed parliament to form a government of "presidential initiative" on 26 September 2001. Sao Tome and Principe is an archipelago of 150,000 people just off the West African country of Gabon.