Constitution
The constitution consists of civic rights and duties, e.g.:
* Freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly
* Right to medical care and an education
* The death penalty and life prison terms have been abolished
* The seat of the government and the National Assembly is the capital of the Republic of Cape Verde: Praia.
Already accepted into the UNO in 1975, the year of its declaration of independence, Cape Verde has become a stable country under the Pereira administration. Despite the state’s one-party system, it has not developed a totalitarian rule. To the contrary: At least during the early years, the PAICV appeared to have understood how to equally address the interests of a variety of citizens. Above all, the party has supported social equality, education, food security and functioning health care. Nevertheless, intellectuals and church groups demanded the introduction of a multi-party system at the end of the 1980s. The National Assembly responded to this demand with a corresponding change of the constitution in 1990. This was directly followed by the founding of the MDP democratic party. In addition, the Cape Verdean Independent Democratic Union (UCID), which had been only active outside of the country up to that point, established itself in Cape Verde.
Political parties
- PAICV Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde, was established in 1981; had been called PAIGC since 1956
- MPD Movimiento para a Democracia, founded in 1990
- PCD Partido da Convergênzia Democrática, founded in 1994 after splitting off from the MDP
- UCID União Caboverdiana Independente e Democrática, founded in 1975 in American and Portuguese exile
- PSD Partido Socialista Democrático, founded in 1992
- PTS Partidodo Trabalhoe da Solidariedade, founded in 1998
The MDP was ultimately able to win 78% of the votes in the following elections of 1991. President Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro served as its candidate and its platform was to provide for better economic conditions through liberalization of fishing, tourism, and other markets of the service sector. The achievements of the MDP that are now generally acknowledged to include decentralisation of the administration through the creation of 16 counties. In 1993, the party split and the PCD, which formed a type of opposition to the re-elected MDP from that time on, was created under Eurico Monteiro and Jorge Carlos Fonseca. At the elections for the National Assembly in January 2001, the PAICV was once again victorious with the President Pedro Pires, who represented social-democratic issues. José Maria Neves heads the government with 12 department ministers and four secretaries of state. At the most recent elections in January 2006, the PAICV was confirmed as the government party with Pires as the president with an absolute majority.
State organs
- National Assembly
Decision-making organ for all domestic and foreign-policy matters; its representatives are elected by the people (voting rights start at age 18) in a free and equal election every 5 years
- President
Representative of the Republic for domestic and foreign-policy matters; elected directly by the people in free and equal elections every 5 years
- Prime Minister
Head of the government and executive who is nominated by the National Assembly and appointed by the president
- Justice Department
Independent jurisdiction, structured as the supreme court, the government accounting office, the military court, the finance court and the family and labour court
Cape Verde and the European Union
Cape Verde enjoys unusually close ties with the European Union. Although the archipelago is geographically part of Africa, it belongs to the same Macaronesian island group as the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, and its economy is firmly bound to Europe: most of the country’s imports and exports are traded with the EU, and the Cape Verdean escudo is pegged to the euro.
Relations are built on the EU–Cape Verde Special Partnership, agreed in 2007, which rests on six pillars: good governance; security and stability; regional integration; technical and regulatory convergence; a knowledge-based society; and the fight against poverty and development. This was followed in 2014 by an Action Plan for Security and Stability and a Mobility Partnership. Cape Verde is also a member of ECOWAS and the African Union, and a beneficiary of the EU’s cooperation programme with the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP).
There is no formal prospect of full EU membership – but no outright rejection either. Cape Verde’s cause has long been championed by its Atlantic neighbours: back in November 2006, legislators from Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands jointly wrote to Brussels urging that Cape Verde be granted a “special status” with the EU – a position they planned to reaffirm with European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso. The Macaronesian archipelagos have continued to back a closer association for Cape Verde under such a special status, rather than full membership.