Pedro Pires 

Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires
Pedro Pires
Incumbent
Assumed office 
22 March 2001
Prime Minister José Maria Neves
Preceded by António Mascarenhas Monteiro
In office
08 July 1975 – 04 April 1991
President Aristides Pereira
António Mascarenhas Monteiro
Preceded by Office created
Succeeded by Carlos Veiga
Born 29 April 1934 (1934-04-29) (age 74)
Political party PAICV

Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires (pronunciation in IPA: ['pedɾu 'piɾɨʃ]) (born 29 April 1934) has been the President of Cape Verde since March 2001. Before becoming President he was Prime Minister from 1975 to 1991.

After the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) decided to institute multiparty democracy in February 1990, Pires replaced President Aristides Pereira as General Secretary of PAICV in August 1990. The PAICV lost the multiparty parliamentary and presidential elections held in early 1991 and was left in opposition. At a party congress in August 1993, Pires was replaced as General Secretary by Aristides Lima and was instead elected as President of PAICV.1 As a candidate for the party presidency at PAICV's September 1997 congress, he faced José Maria Neves2 and prevailed with 68% of the vote.3 He stepped down as PAICV President in 2000 in preparation for a presidential bid in the next year's election4 and he was succeeded by Neves.1 He announced his candidacy for the Presidency of Cape Verde on September 5, 2000.5

Pires was the PAICV candidate in the February 2001 presidential election, defeating former Prime Minister Carlos Veiga of the Movement for Democracy (MpD) in the second round by just 17 votes.678 Pires took office on March 22; the MpD boycotted his inauguration, saying that the election was marred by a "non-transparent process".9 As President, Pires appointed Neves as Prime Minister.1 He ran for a second term in the presidential election held on 12 February 2006 and again prevailed over Veiga, this time winning in the first round, by a 51%-49% margin.8

In May 2008, he said that he favored a cautious, long-term approach to the formation of a United States of Africa, preferring that regional integration precede a continent-wide union. He attended the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV) at this time.10

References

  1. ^ a b c Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 113.
  2. ^ "Cape Verde: Opposition party congress opens", Radio Renascenca, Lisbon (nl.newsbank.com), September 19, 1997.
  3. ^ "Cape Verde: Former PM elected leader of main opposition PAICV party", Radio Renascenca, Lisbon (nl.newsbank.com), September 22, 1997.
  4. ^ "Cape Verde: Town council leader to run for PAIGC party leadership", RDP Africa web site (nl.newsbank.com), May 29, 2000.
  5. ^ "Cape Verde: Former prime minister Pires to run for president in 2001 poll", RDP Africa web site (nl.newsbank.com), September 6, 2000.
  6. ^ "New president for Cape Verde", BBC News, March 6, 2001.
  7. ^ "Cape Verde: National Election Commission declares Pedro Pires as new president", Televisao Publica de Angola (nl.newsbank.com), March 5, 2001.
  8. ^ a b Elections in Cape Verde, African Elections Database.
  9. ^ "Cape Verde: Main opposition party boycotts presidential inauguration", PANA news agency (nl.newsbank.com), March 23, 2001.
  10. ^ "Presidente cabo-verdiano prudente sobre Estados Unidos de África", Panapress, May 28, 2008 (Portuguese).
Political offices
Preceded by
Office created		 Prime Minister of Cape Verde
1975 – 1991		 Succeeded by
Carlos Veiga
Preceded by
António Mascarenhas Monteiro		 President of Cape Verde
2001 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
Prime Ministers of Cape Verde
Flag of Cape Verde
v • d • e
Presidents of Cape Verde
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