Marxist Party Gives Up Power in Cape Verde
Cape Verde’s ruling Marxist party has relinquished its 15-year monopoly on power and renounced its role as the leading force in society, Portuguese news reports said Saturday.
The decisions came at a four-day congress this week in the Atlantic island nation’s capital of Praia, the news agency Lusa reported.
The African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde also elected Prime Minister Pedro Pires as its party chief, Lusa reported.
The 200-delegate party embraced multi-party democracy and renounced its constitutionally enshrined role as the “leading force of the state and society.”
The delegates voted to eliminate their party’s Marxist-influenced system of organization and uphold “plurality of opinions,” Lusa said.
The party has ruled Cape Verde since the 10-island archipelago, 385 miles off the coast of Senegal, gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Pires, 56, who was the party’s assistant secretary general, will replace Cape Verde’s president, Aristides Pereira, in the top party post.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
