The National Elections Commission (CNE) has concluded the vote count from Sunday’s presidential elections, in which incumbent candidate Pedro Pires defeated opponent Carlos Veiga by more than 2,800 votes.

According to data posted on the CNE’s site (www.cne.cv), Pedro Pires received 86,335 votes (50.84%), against Carlos Veiga’s 83,479 (49.16%) - a difference of 2,876 votes. Nevertheless, Veiga received more votes than Pires within Cape Verdean territory, where he enjoyed a 480-vote advantage.

Total abstention in Sunday’s vote stood at 46.9%, nearly four percentage points higher than the level seen in last month’s legislative elections, in which the PAICV (which also supports Pedro Pires) won an absolute majority, grabbing 41 of the National Assembly’s 72 legislative seats. The MpD, which supported Veiga, won 29 seats, while the small UCID party gained two.

While Pedro Pires has naturally accepted his victory in the elections, Carlos Veiga has yet to admit loss, and has hinted at the possibility of requesting the annulment of the election results - particularly those coming from Cape Verde’s émigré communities, where he lost to Pedro Pires be a wide margin.