| José Maria Neves to run for re-election as PAICV leader with “new answers for new times” | ||||
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José Maria Neves has been preparing his strategy motion for the November 4 internal party elections for more than a month. The party’s internal elections were originally scheduled to take place on September 27, but the PAICV’s Political Commission decided to postpone it several days in order to allow party structures to complete their internal restructuring process. Saturday’s ceremony, which is slated to begin at 5:00 pm in the Noble Hall of the National Assembly building, is being awaited with a certain degree of expectation within the PAICV, if for no other reason than the fact that it is then that party members will be able to evaluate the practicality of the strategy motion from the party leader and to see for themselves if the “answers” to be given truly are new and adequate for “new times.” José Maria Neves has a hard test of his capacity to innovate in the political praxis ahead of him, on terrain in which very few manage to avoid copying models that have been tested elsewhere and at other times to greater or lesser degrees of success. Indeed, the party leader is aware that his political future will begin to be played out on Saturday. If he manages to surprise, he is conscious that he will be able not only to galvanize his party but also to allow this weekend’s event to serve as a launching point for the 2010 campaign. If not… only time will tell. A number of PAICV members and sympathizers from Santiago and other islands will be present to watch the “test.” In addition to the political act itself – the formal presentation of José Maria Neves’ candidacy for his own re-election as the governing party’s president – organizers hope to turn to event into a cultural celebration as well. Performances by a number of Cape Verdean artists, including Zeca di Nha Reinalda, are on the agenda. Following the event in Praia, José Maria Neves is expected to campaign on all of Cape Verde’s islands. “The candidate’s travel schedule will be approved within a matter of days. There is proposal for José Maria Neves to continue with contacts on the island of Santiago next week, after which he would visit the other islands. Neves is expected to meet with party militants, to whom he will present the ideas he will defend in order to re-conquer the leadership of the PAICV and Cape Verde,” according to a source from the party leader’s candidacy. Direct elections and candidates Meanwhile, the PAICV machine is already working full steam in order to prepare for its first-ever direct election for party president on November 4. The process is being conducted by the National Jurisdiction and Oversight Commission. Commission president Honório Brito affirms that logistics are already being set up. “In order to prepare the entire process in partnership with the party’s regional and municipal structures, I’m scheduling trips to all of Cape Verde’s islands,” says Brito, announcing that the deadline for the formal presentation of candidacies for the PAICV leadership will end on the 13th of this month. So far, José Maria Neves is the only party official who has formalized his candidacy for party president. His national campaign manager is Orlando Sanches, a member of the PAICV’s National Commission and mayor of Santa Cruz, who is being assisted by Jandira Hopffer Almada and Raquel Horta. Orlando Sanches guarantees that the 48 sector campaign managers have been selected. “We’re currently collecting signatures. At least 400 party militants have to undersign José Maria Neves’ candidacy for the PAICV presidency.” Vieira not expected to run Sanches says he supports José Maria Neves, but believes it would be healthy for the party as a whole if there were more than one candidate for the PAICV leadership. “So far, only Neves’ candidacy has been confirmed. But it would be desirable for there to emerge another contestant for the PAICV leadership. This would contribute to deepening internal debate and helping the PAICV develop a school of thought up to the new challenges and the responses needed for them and work for a better Cape Verde,” says Sanches. Although the possibility cannot be entirely ruled out, A Semana Online is in a position to affirm that supporters of former Praia mayor Felisberto Vieira have not given any clear signs that he intends to run for the post. “Vieira informed the members of the Political Coordination Group he created for the capital city that he would not be running for the leadership of the PAICV. He also gave instructions to the seven party sectors in the South Santiago region to mobilize party members and friends to attend the act in which José Maria Neves will present his candidacy,” states one of the members of this group, according to whom Vieira in on vacation outside the country and will return on September 15. Voting and electoral rosters A total of 27,334 party militants are eligible to vote in the November internal elections that will be used to choose the PAICV’s next president. Voter lists from Cape Verdean communities abroad have already been distributed and are definitive. Those from the political regions inside the country were to have been competed by Thursday, September 10. Voting is slated to take place between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm in Cape Verde and in émigré communities abroad. The announcement of the final count will be made by the evening of November 4. Fernando Lopes Robalo, the president of the party’s National Voter Registration Commission, informs that 26,140 of the 27,334 party members eligible to vote reside in Cape Verde, with the other 1,194 belonging to the party’s political structures in the diaspora. The island of Santiago has more than half of all party members eligible to vote in the elections – 16,334. 9,993 of these reside in the South Santiago region, which is presided over by Felisberto Vieira. Provisional data show that the urban centers with the largest numbers of registered party members are Praia (7,831), Santa Catarina (2,013), Mindelo (1,626) and São Filipe (1,487). Boa Vista is at the tail end of the list, with 219. |
“New times, new answers” is the commitment that will be made by Prime Minister José Maria Neves in his run for re-election as the president of the governing PAICV political party this Saturday, September 12, when he will stand before his party’s members. The strategy motion to be presented tomorrow will usher in a new period for the PAICV’s long-standing leader.