São Tomé and Príncipe

Africa’s smallest nation by population size, roughly 240,000 people, will be heading to the polls for its eighth cycle of presidential and legislative elections since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991. The 2-island archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean that lies on the Equator, roughly 250 kilometers off the coast of Gabon, has a history of competitive elections.

São Tomé and Príncipe operates under a hybrid presidential and parliamentary model. The president is directly elected for a five-year term, limited to two terms. The president serves as commander-in-chief, directs foreign policy, approves legislation passed by the National Assembly, and acts as an impartial arbiter to ensure the smooth functioning of state institutions. This role is currently held by Carlos Vila Nova who won re-election as an independent in July 2026, receiving 55.9 percent in the first round of the presidential elections. He represented the ruling party, Acção Democrática Independente (ADI), during his first term.

The 55 members of the National Assembly are elected to 4-year terms. The National Assembly selects the prime minister, who serves as the head of government, implementing policy, and leading the country’s day-to-day functions.  The ADI secured 30 seats in the 2022 parliamentary elections and selected Patrice Trovoada as prime minister. In January 2025, however, President Nova dismissed Trovoada and selected Américo dos Ramos, also from ADI, as the new prime minister.

The moves triggered ongoing intraparty disagreements leading the ADI to nominate the 43-year-old Nito D’Abreu as their presidential candidate. Nevertheless, Nova was subsequently re-elected as an independent.

These fissures will also be central to the September parliamentary elections. Ramos will lead the ADI party slate aiming to retain its majority. However, former Prime Minister Trovoada has urged party members to boycott the vote in protest. The election will thus be a test of ADI members’ loyalty to the current or former prime minister.

The leading opposition party, the Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe – Partido Social Democrata (MLSTP-PSD), is led by Américo Barros. The party won 18 seats in 2022.

A new party, Nossa Terra, will also be competing for seats. It is led by Abnildo d’Oliveira, who presides over the National Assembly. He was initially elected to parliament for the ADI, reflecting the further fracturing of ADI support.

Altogether, there will be seven political parties participating in the 2026 legislative elections.

The ADI and the MLSTP-PSD have historically been the two major parties that have dominated elections in São Tomé and Príncipe. There have been multiple transitions of power between the parties and they have, at times, “cohabitated” with the president represented by one party and the prime minister from the other.

São Tomé and Príncipe citizens wait in line to vote. (Photo by AFP)

Elections in São Tomé and Príncipe are widely seen as free and fair. The Comissão Eleitoral Nacional (CEN) operates independently, with members selected from the National Assembly. Independent media are able to cover elections and candidates without fear of reprisals, and São Tomé and Príncipe is regularly recognized for having one of the most open environments for journalists and civil society leaders in Africa.

São Tomé and Príncipe’s tranquility was roiled in November 2022, however, when four people were killed in an assault on a military barracks in an apparent coup attempt. While details remain murky, the coup plotters were evidently part of a disbanded South African/Angolan apartheid-era militia known as the Buffalo Battalion. While there was no evidence that the attack was linked to any political party, a key issue for the 2026 elections will be to demonstrate that this violence was an isolated aberration rather than an ongoing feature of national politics.

Because of São Tomé and Príncipe’s strategic location in the Gulf of Guinea—near valuable offshore hydrocarbon reserves, illicit trafficking routes from Latin America to Europe, and periodic pirate attacks—São Tomé and Príncipe’s 1,300-strong security forces have maintained ongoing security partnerships with neighboring African coastal countries, the European Union, Portugal, and the United States.  São Tomé and Príncipe is also a party to the Yaoundé Protocol, an effort by 25 West and Central African countries to improve cooperation to curb illicit trafficking and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. As part of Zone D (along with Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon), it conducts joint patrols with neighboring countries.

Russia has attempted to forge closer ties to São Tomé and Príncipe in recent years—part of a wider effort to expand Russia’s naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea. The overtures led to the signing of a military cooperation agreement in 2024, covering training, arms supply, logistics, and joint exercises in exchange for Russian naval and air force visits. Russia has also proposed helping São Tomé and Príncipe monitor its 160,000-square-kilometre territorial waters using radars and drones.

Despite a track record of solid elections, recent years have provided political, security, and geostrategic disruptions in the tiny archipelago. The 2026 elections will be a test for São Tomé and Príncipe to reassert its democratic credentials and reputation for stability.