The president of Sao Tome and Principe has dissolved the government due to its “inability” to address the issues confronting the nation and the “frequent” absences of the prime minister.
This announcement from President Carlos Vila Nova was made in a decree issued on Monday and shared on the presidency’s Facebook page.
The decree pointed out a “notable inability” of Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada’s administration “to offer solutions” to the country amid “the magnitude of existing challenges,” adding that the “frequent and extended periods of absence by the prime minister from the national territory,” was central to his decision.
The president and the premier belong to the centre-right Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party, which secured victory in the parliamentary elections held in 2022.
According to the decree, the party has a deadline of 72 hours to suggest a new candidate for the position of prime minister.
Sao Tome, a former Portuguese colony in the Gulf of Guinea, achieved independence in 1975 and has a history of coup attempts. In November 2022, Trovoada reported that the military had stopped a coup attempt.
This followed earlier coup attempts in 2003 and 2009, after which the country experienced a period of stability and garnered recognition for its political stability and parliamentary democracy.
Since the archipelago transitioned to a multiparty political system in 1991, following 15 years under a single-party Marxist regime, the ADI has emerged as one of the two principal parties competing to govern the nation of about 200,000 residents.
