Dispute for the MpD Leadership with allegations of threats: Candidate Orlando Dias says he does not allow manipulation of the electoral process and asks GAPE to investigate detected illegalities

The controversy is installed. Orlando Dias, candidate for president of the MpD, in a press conference held this Friday, March 17, asked the Support Office for the Electoral Process (GAPE) for an investigation to be clarified under what circumstances several proponents of the his candidacy were contacted by telephone with threats and attempts at intimidation for supporting him. The opponent of Ulisses Carreia e Silva made a point of emphasizing that the Electoral Regulations, approved by the National Directorate of the MpD, « which irreversibly tarnished the credibility of this body», deserved on their part «a complaint to the Constitutional Court », from which awaits if the decision at all times.

According to the same source, this request arose from the controversy that arose around the list of candidates for delegates to the National Convention, scheduled for 26, 27 and 28 May 2023.

Candidate Orlando Dias alleges that this manipulation and mystification surrounding the election of delegates had fertile ground on the very date of the elections, since the elections for President of the MpD and for delegates to the National Convention, should have been scheduled for different dates, although the ballot papers are autonomous.

Dias also clarifies that he did not present, nor had to present, any list of candidates for delegates to the National Convention, “ and for a very simple reason, unlike our opponents, which GAPE, consciously or unconsciously, is now covering this candidacy, despite the fact that he does not completely see himself in them, he scrupulously complies with what is set out in the MpD Statutes ”.

Still in the conference held this morning, the candidate for president of the MpD, underlines some inaccuracies of the Support Office for the Electoral Process advanced in a recent press conference.

" It seems to us that there are some misunderstandings associated with the recent press conference of the Support Office for the Electoral Process, which advanced two inaccuracies ", elucidates the lecturer:

• The first is that GAPE, contrary to what has been said, did not receive a list of candidates for delegates to the National Convention in May, but 22 lists, corresponding to the twenty-two municipalities of Cape Verde, plus the lists of the diaspora ;

• The second is that neither can the lists of candidates for delegates be presented by Ulisses Correia e Silva's candidacy for President of the MpD, as is also clearly stated in the Party's Statutes.

DN stained by illegalities and complaint to the Constitutional Court

As for GAPE, it says that everything is running as normal, while also claiming that there are no breaches of internal rules. This is an allusion to the Electoral Regulations, approved by the National Directorate of the MpD, " which irreversibly tarnished the credibility of this body ", and which, according to Orlando Dias, deserved on their part "a complaint to the Constitutional Court", which is awaiting the decision at all times.

“Effectively, the abnormality of the entire electoral process is inaugurated with the approval of the aforementioned regulation, in flagrant violation of the Statutes of the MpD and the Electoral Code of Cape Verde, as we had the opportunity to denounce in due time”, stresses Dias.

The same advances even though the illegality of the entire process is proven by simply consulting the Statutes, which GAPE claims to comply with, and the Electoral Code, which it (GAPE) claims to resort to in case of doubt.

Having said all that, Orlando Dias asks that it be investigated, as only this candidacy and GAPE have access to the names and contact details of the proponents, so the data leak could only have been carried out by someone from GAPE itself.

Firm candidate who does not abandon the MpD

Faced with the installed controversy, the opponent of Ulisses Correia e Silva warns that he intends to carry out, until the end, his firm alternative candidacy for the leadership of the MpD.

« The Candidacy of Orlando Dias will serenely continue its path of information and enlightenment for militants, covering Cape Verde and the Diaspora in direct contacts and presenting its proposals for the Party and for the Country, not letting us get sidetracked by episodes marginal to the democratic rule of law, but not failing to denounce them with political firmness ", he asserted.

Addressing the militants in the face of the installed controversy, Dias asserts that he will never abandon the MpD, regardless of the electoral results (direct to choose the new leader) of next April 16th.

« Orlando Dias is a man of the Party and of the Party, who built his political trajectory guided by republican values, who never abandoned the MpD nor will he abandon it, regardless of the April 16 election results », he made a point of highlighting Orlando Dias in the today's press conference.