Africa-Press – Cape verde. Cape Verde marks, this Friday, January 13, Freedom and Democracy Day, 32 years after the date on which Cape Verdeans exercised their right to vote for the first time, in multi-party elections. In addition to Freedom Week, the date is marked with a Special Solemn Session of the National Assembly.
At a time when democracy in the world is being attacked by authoritarian and illiberal currents, as what happened in Brasília last Sunday, Cape Verde marks tomorrow, January 13, the 32 years since the first free and democratic elections were held .
At the time, two political forces and two programs were in conflict: the PAICV, in power since 1975 and headed by Pedro Pires, and the MpD, created nine months ago, within the framework of the political opening announced in February 1990, and led by Carlos Veiga, would end up winning, with more than 60 percent of the votes counted.
In fact, since then, from an autocratic regime, Cape Verde has had a new Constitution of the Republic, with a central government and municipalities, independent judicial power, in addition to a market economy. The PAICV, under the leadership of José Maria Neves, would return to government in 2001, to cede the governance of the country again in 2016 to the MpD, under the baton of Ulisses Correia e Silva.
That is, in practice, national political life has been guided by an alternation between these two political forces, to which the UCID joins, as a third political party, although founded in emigration, in 1977, to oppose the then single party of the PAIGC.
As usual, the MpD, the party that won the 1991 elections and has supported the Government since 2016, promotes Freedom Week, with political, recreational, sporting and environmental activities.
According to the secretary general of the MpD, Luís Carlos Silva, the objective is to celebrate the gains that the date represents, but also to promote debates in search of answers that can contribute to improving political, cultural and democratic participation in the country.
Democracy, everyone’s commitment
One of the planned activities is an International Conference, entitled “Democracy, a commitment for all”, to take place this Thursday, 12th, in the National Assembly, with the participation of national and international speakers.
Also part of the list of activities is the traditional Freedom Walk, which will take place on the 14th of January, along the route Praia – Cidade Velha.
tree planting
In addition to other decentralized activities in the municipalities, each municipality will plant a tree, a total of 32, symbolizing the celebration of the 32 years of the conquest of freedom and democracy in Cape Verde.
“The MpD urges all militants, friends, supporters and the population in general to participate in the activities of the week of freedom”, appealed SG, underlining that it is a political moment that “makes everyone proud, for their contribution in the formation of the Cape Verdean identity”.
On Friday, the 13th, the political forces and sovereign bodies gather in the National Assembly, for the Special Commemorative Solemn Session, as provided for in Law n.o 106/VIII/2016.
Also tomorrow Praia City Council holds its now traditional Marathon Race for Freedom.
republic week
Also, within the framework of Republic Week, promoted by the Presidency of the Republic, which runs from the 13th to the 20th of January since 2012, a conference on “Local government in the 21st century: clues for integrated governance” is planned, on the 16th, and has as speaker the pro-rector of the University of Aveiro, Filipe Teles, and debaters the mayor of Mosteiros, Fábio Vieira (PAICV), and the deputy of the Nation António Monteiro (UCID).
The conference “The Cape Verdean Nation: between challenges and concerns” is scheduled for the 17th, which will be given by the rector of the University of Santiago, Gabriel Fernandes, and will also count on the presence of the brigadier general, António Matos, and social worker Mónica Furtado.
The Republic Week program ends on the 20th, with the laying of a wreath and the unveiling of a special plaque at the Amílcar Cabral Mausoleum, in Praia, followed by a ceremony at Praça de Assomada, Santa Catarina, to mark the 50 years after the murder of Amílcar Cabral.
32nd position in democratic ranking: In search of perfect democracy
Cape Verde occupied the 32nd position in the ‘ranking’ of the Democracy Index in 2021, published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIY), with political participation and political culture as the weakest points in the indicator. Our best score was in the electoral process and pluralism.
However, despite maintaining the position of the previous year, Cape Verde fell from 2nd to 3rd place in the group of countries in Africa, being considered an “imperfect democracy”.
In 2022, the country also dropped nine places in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking.
With 75.37 points, the country dropped from 27th place, reached in 2021, to 36th place, worldwide. This result raised some concern in the country, with freedom of the press being one of the pillars of democracy.
At the time of its disclosure, in May 2022, the President of the Republic, José Maria Neves, defended that it is necessary to work to avoid possible setbacks in the indicators related to freedom of the press, and recover positions in the world ranking, since free information and plurality is essential to the practice of Democracy.
For its part, the Government guaranteed that it has created the necessary conditions for strengthening press freedom, independence, objectivity and pluralism of the media and journalists.
The struggle for the most diverse political actors is to make Cape Verde a full democracy, or perfect, placing the country on the same level as the most evolved countries in this matter.
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