The Democratic Convergence Party-Reflection Group ( pt, Partido de Convergência Democrática-Grupo de Reflexão), or PCD-GR, is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in São Tomé and Príncipe. It was founded on 4 November 1990 by

Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy F ...

(MLSTP)

dissidents A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

s, and young professionals.

Leonel Mário d'Alva Leonel Mário d'Alva (born 1935) is a São Toméan politician. He served as the prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe from 21 December 1974 until 12 July 1975, when the country gained independence from Portugal. From late 1975 to 1980, D ...

is the party leader. The one-party period of São Tomé and Príncipe lasted from the country's independence in 1975 to 1991, when the dominant party, Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe – Social Democratic Party, lost in the first multiparty elections to the PCD-GR. The party won the 1991

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and was the ruling party from 1991 to 1994. Since 1994 its power has declined, and it has maintained coalitions with other parties, first the MLSTP and then the Forces for Change Coalition of current President Fradique de Menezes. It was led for several years by

Alda Bandeira Alda Bandeira Tavares Vaz da Conceição (born September 22, 1949) is a politician in São Tomé and Príncipe. Bandeira was born in Santana, São Tomé in 1949. Her father was a nurse. She studied modern languages at Eduardo Mondlane University ...

. At the

legislative elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, March 3, 2002, the party won together with the Force for Change Democratic Movement-Liberal Party (MDFM-PL) 39.4% of the popular vote and 23 out of 55 seats. The same alliance won at the

legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, held on 26 March 2006, 36.79% and 23 out of 55 seats. The party supported incumbent Fradique de Menezes in the 30 July 2006

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

. He was re-elected with 60.58% of the vote. In the

2011 São Toméan presidential election Presidential elections were held in São Tomé and Príncipe in 2011, the first round beginning on 17 July 2011 with a Run-off election, run-off held on 7 August 2011. Incumbent List of heads of government of São Tomé and Príncipe, President F ...

, Delfim Neves represented both the PCD and the Force for Change Democratic Movement – Liberal Party (MDFM-PL), the part of the previous president, Fradique de Menezes. He won 13.9% of the vote.

References

See also