The wars within the PAICV

The PAICV is in a kind of internal implosion process with members of the leadership exchanging accusations in public, because of the election of the new parliamentary leader.

The meeting of the PAICV Political Committee, which must approve the name of the party's next parliamentary leader, will take place on December 6th and, according to A Nação, Rui Semedo has already found a third way to face the attempt to “ imposition” by Luís Pires, candidate supported by former PAICV leader, Janira Hopffer Almada.

According to this media outlet, Rui Semedo will present the name of the diaspora deputy, elected by the Europe circle, Francisco Pereira, as a proposal by the Political Committee to preside over the Parliamentary Group.

If Francisco Pereira's name is approved by the Political Committee, it will be put to a vote in the Parliamentary Group where it is very likely that there will be a repetition of the situation that led to Démis Almeida's failure, which was a proposal that had been approved at the top of the PAICV.

All this “washing of dirty linen” became public with the nomination, by the PAICV parliamentary group, of Démis Almeida as party leader in the National Assembly. This refusal also clearly exposed the deep differences between the current president of the party, Rui Semedo, and the previous leader, Janira Hopffer Almada. The confrontation between PAICV leaders, with members of the board openly criticizing Janira's behavior, accusing her of “political disloyalty” never seen “in the history of PAICV”.

In some ways, the internal negotiations at PAICV bring all the internal problems to the public square and “show” that the party's leadership is divided, relegating the interests of the Party and its members to the background.

In the last elections to choose the new leader in parliament, the political commission chose Demis Lobo and, in the assembly, the candidacy of Luís Pires (Djoka) was presented, which, eventually, was sponsored by Janira Hopffer Almada. On the 6th there is a national council, it is known that the first option is the deputy for Europe Francisco Pereira, considered close to Janira.

However, this candidacy does not have the support of deputies, the majority of whom support Luís Pires. We cannot omit that Luís Pires, in the recent past, lost the camera to the MPD. The PAICV, also due to internal disputes, ended up presenting a different candidate and Luís Pires decided to run as an independent. The 2 PAICV competitors ended up losing the local elections, in 2016, to the MPD.

Given the development of this small political crisis, which involves current and former leaders, it contributes to discrediting PAICV among activists and voters.

It's sad that we let our ego speak louder and let such situations as was the case in the last election to choose the parliamentary leader in which the deputies voted mostly for Luís Pires. I don't think it's necessary to know who made the mistake or who made the impositions, but I'm sure that these “small wars” only demonstrate a certain fragility that should be resolved internally.

Gentlemen, resolve, for the good of your party and in defense of the interests of our fellow citizens, a consensual proposal that avoids these “internal struggles”. Therefore, they should internally advise Luís Pires to contain and accept a consensus and democratic proposal, without impositions for the good of the Party.