The African Party for Independence of Cape Verde (, PAICV) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

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

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

. It was the sole legal party in the country from 1981 to 1990. Its members are nicknamed "" (the

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

s) in Portuguese, and they identify themselves with the color yellow.

History

In 1956, its forerunner, the

African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from Portugal, the party turned to armed conflict in the 1960s and was o ...

(PAIGC), was founded by the Cape Verdean

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

leader

Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist ...

(born in Guinea-Bissau). PAIGC fought to overthrow the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

, unify Cape Verde and

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

, and use its

vanguardism Vanguardism, a core concept of Leninism, is the idea that a revolutionary vanguard party, composed of the most conscious and disciplined workers, must lead the proletariat in overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, ultimately progre ...

to advance

socialist revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

. From 1961 on, the PAIGC fought a

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

campaign in cooperation with its

fraternal party A fraternal party is a political party officially affiliated with another, often larger or international, political party or governmental party, or several of them, notably when these share a political ideology. They may express this 'fraternity' ...

umbrella group, the CONCP, during the

Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War (), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the Portuguese Empire, former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan War of Independence, Angolan, Guinea-Bissau War of Independence ...

. By 1973 the PAIGC controlled Guinea-Bissau, while

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

's own

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

in 1974 effectively dissolved the empire, relinquishing Cape Verde within the next year. After the

wars of national liberation Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

, the PAIGC established a

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...

within both territories under Amilcar Cabral's brother,

Luís Cabral Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral (11 April 1931 – 30 May 2009) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military ''coup d'état'' led by João Bernardo Vieira deposed h ...

Establishment

Following a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

in Guinea-Bissau that ousted Cabral in November 1980, the Cape Verde portion of the party became the PAICV in January 1981; it was headed by the President of Cape Verde,

Aristides Pereira Aristides Maria Pereira (; 17 November 1923 – 22 September 2011) was a Cape Verdean politician. He was the first President of Cape Verde, serving from 1975 to 1991. Biography Pereira was born in Fundo das Figueiras, on the island of Boa Vist ...

.''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 113. The PAICV was Cape Verde's sole legal party from 1981 until the abolition of the one-party state in 1990.

Multiparty democracy

At an extraordinary party congress in February 1990, the PAICV approved the introduction of multiparty democracy. Pereira stepped down as General Secretary of PAICV in July 1990, and Prime Minister

Pedro Pires Pedro de Verona Rodrigues Pires (; born 29 April 1934) is a Cape Verdean politician who served as Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991, and later as president from 2001 to 2011. Life and career Pires was born in São Filipe, Fogo, Cap ...

replaced him in August 1990. The PAICV won 23 of the 79

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

seats in the January 1991 multiparty parliamentary election, losing to the Movement for Democracy (MpD). Pereira was subsequently defeated in the February 1991 presidential election, and PAICV again fared poorly in the December 1991 local elections. At a party congress in August 1993, Pires was replaced as General Secretary by

Aristides Lima Aristides Raimundo Lima (born August 31, 1955) is a former Cape Verdean politician and was the 4th president of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2011. in pdf Biography Aristides Lima was born in the island of Boa Vista. He later studied at th ...

and was instead elected as President of PAICV. The PAICV won 21 out of 72 National Assembly seats in the December 1995 parliamentary election. At a PAICV congress in September 1997, Pires faced José Maria Neves in a leadership contest, and Pires was elected with 68% of the vote. Pires stepped down as PAICV President in 2000 in preparation for a presidential bid in the next year's election and he was succeeded by Neves.

2001 election

In the

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 p ...

held on 11 and 25 February 2001, PAICV candidate Pedro Pires, who won 46.52% of the vote in the first round, narrowly defeated the MpD's

Carlos Veiga Carlos Alberto Wahnon de Carvalho Veiga (; born October 21, 1949, in Mindelo) is a Cape Verdean politician. He was Prime Minister of Cape Verde from April 4, 1991, to July 29, 2000. Early life and education Veiga was born in 1949 in Mindelo, Sã ...

by a margin of only 12 votes in the run-off.Elections in Cape Verde
African Elections Database

2006 election

In the

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

held on 22 January 2006, PAICV won 52.28% of the popular vote and 41 out of 72 seats in the National Assembly. In the

held on 12 February 2006, Pedro Pires again narrowly defeated Carlos Veiga, winning 50.98% of the vote.

2011 election

In the

held on 7 February 2011, the PAICV led by Jose Maria Neves won 52.68% of the popular vote and 38 out of 72 seats in the National Assembly. In the

held on 7 and 21 August 2011,

Manuel Inocêncio Sousa Manuel Inocêncio Sousa (born 22 June 1951) is a Cape Verdean politician. Sousa was foreign minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cape Verde from 2001 to 2002 and subsequently Minister of Infrastructure, Transports and Sea. Biography Manuel In ...

lost to

Jorge Carlos Fonseca Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca (; born 20 October 1950)
is a Cape Verdean politician, lawyer and u ...

(MpD) with 32.66% of the votes in the first round and 45.74% in the second round.

2016 election

PAICV lost 2016 presidential elections and president Jorge Carlos Fonseca was re-elected with very clear majority of the votes. PAICV even failed to forward a candidate. Before that PAICV had lost the 2016 parliamentary election. The main opposition party Movement for Democracy (MpD) won the parliamentary elections, taking back power after 15 years.

Ideology and affiliation

The PAICV describes itself as

but began to trend towards

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

in the 2010s. The party has been placed as

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

on the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...

. The party is a full member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1981 establishments in Cape Verde Political parties established in 1981 Political parties in Cape Verde Full member parties of the Socialist International