José Sanches withdraws from candidacy for leadership of the PAICV

The deputy of the African Independence Party of Cape Verde (PAICV-opposition), José Sanches, announced today that he will not run for leadership of the party because he considers there to be “manipulation” and “degradation” of principles and values built by the democratic party.

José Sanches made this announcement in a statement to the press made this morning, at the National Assembly, having stated at the time that “for the first time in the world a democratic party is going to congress with a greater number of natural delegates in relation to delegates to be elected”.

“In Janira, that is, the board of the PAICV has 193 delegates for the congress as natural delegates and 171 still need to be elected, which is unprecedented in democracy worldwide. Before the internal elections, the current leader of the party already has a victory with about 60%”, he highlighted.

According to José Sanches, the PAICV leadership did everything to “derail” his candidacy which, in his point of view, was deserving “great sympathy from the militants.

The PAICV deputy also said that the party's leadership had always conceived these internal elections as a simple ballot for reappointment, which is why, they shied away from the duty of collaboration, and resorting to all kinds of traps, made the candidacy unfeasible. of an alternative proposal of governance of the party to the militants.

“The withholding of the requested database, we were not allowed, the creation of commissions to organize the congress and the creation of a commission to review the party’s statutes, with elements allocated to a single candidacy, and a reduction in the number of militants of about 36 thousand to 30 thousand was an assault on the party”, he added.

But the most serious of all this, according to José Sanches, is the reduction in the number of delegates to Congress from around 500 or 600 to 364 delegates.

The PAICV deputy also emphasized that it was his wish to make this day a moment of reflection and recovery for the party, as Cape Verdeans deserve that the PAICV be cohesive and act in tolerance and dialogue, without the opposing opposition being weapon of elimination of any militant who is not tied to the current leadership.

“With all this we decided to live for democracy with transparency, with truth and without fear. Today, it is our purpose to affirm to Cape Verde and Cape Verdeans that we are not going to make this farce that has been conventionally called internal elections of the PAICV unfeasible”, he added.

In his declaration, José Sanches reaffirmed his willingness to continue his project of uniting and working for the unity of PAICV members.

The Congress of the largest opposition party will take place with 364 delegates, including 121 natural delegates, 36 JPAI quota, 36 quota for the Women's Federation and 171 elected delegates. The week