Africa-Press – Cape verde. The member elected by Cape Verde in the Council of Portuguese Communities (CCP) asked the Portuguese Government to find a solution so that teachers posted in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente, can exercise their right to vote.
José Nóbrega Ascenso said he had asked the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, for “his best efforts” so that “someone with a sense of responsibility, restores the right to vote to State servants in office at the Mindelo da Portuguese School of Cape Verde (EPCV)”.
Joaquim Gonçalves, deputy director of EPCV in Mindelo, told Lusa today that a dozen teachers could be affected, in addition to other Portuguese citizens on the island.
Councilor José Nóbrega Ascenso classifies the situation as “absurd” and blames the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) for not authorizing the opening of a voting table in the Mindelo consular office, which, “since the founding of the school, in 2016” , even before being integrated into EPCV, guaranteed the fundamental right of teachers.
For the legislative elections on March 10, the only polling station operates from today until Friday at the Embassy of Portugal, in the capital, Praia, on the island of Santiago, 300 kilometers to the southeast, accessible by plane or boat, but without predictability traveling and being forced to miss classes.
According to José Nóbrega Ascenso, the case “provoked a feeling of abandonment of these public servants by those who should protect their rights and seems to forget that Cape Verde is an archipelago” in which travel between Mindelo and the capital has high costs and neither are always available.
The deputy director of EPCV in Mindelo told Lusa that teachers had received information that they could vote in the city and that it was only on Monday that they were told otherwise.
Contacted by Lusa, a Portuguese consular source in the city of Praia said that “there was no authorization” from the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) to open a polling station in Mindelo.
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