The President of São Tomé, Carlos Vila Nova dismissed on Tuesday the government led by Jorge Bom Jesus, given the results of the legislative elections of September 25, in which the Independent Democratic Action (ADI) won with an absolute majority, announced the Presidency of the Republic.
“Through Presidential Decree No. 25/2022, the President of the Republic, Carlos Vila Nova, dismissed on November 8, the XVII Constitutional Government, headed by Dr. Jorge Lopes de Bom Jesus, who had been appointed through Presidential Decrees Nos. 25 and 26/ 2018, of November 29 and December 3, respectively,” reads a post on the Facebook of the Presidency of the Republic of São Tomé.
The publication states that “the Presidential Decree that comes into force immediately, comes in light of the results of the legislative elections held on September 25, 2022 and, consequently, the election of new deputies to the National Assembly, the beginning of a new legislature and the need for the appointment of the new Prime Minister and head of the XVIII Constitutional Government.”
The leader of Independent Democratic Action (ADI), Patrice Trovoada, will be sworn in as Prime Minister of São Tomé on Friday, and the new government will take office three days later, he said last week after a meeting with the President of the Republic.
The leader of ADI, who won the legislative elections held last September 25 with an absolute majority of 30 (five more than in the current legislature) out of 55 deputies, said that the party has already been “formally invited” by the President of the Republic to present “the proposal of the name for Prime Minister,” which was formalized on Friday, according to the Presidency.
The XII parliamentary term began Tuesday with the deputy and vice president of the Independent Democratic Action (ADI), Celmira Sacramento, to be elected president of the National Assembly, with 52 of 55 votes.
Carlos Vila Nova believes that “no political party or movement should arrogate to itself the sense of being in a position to face alone, or with just a few, the great challenges” of the country “in terms of legislation, climate change, pandemics, economic and financial crises, terrorism, insecurity and other diverse scourges.
The ADI, of former Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada, was the party with the most votes, winning an absolute majority “30 parliamentary seats, five more than in the previous legislature”.