Government Government of Cape Verde President Cape Verde
Description of Work:
Pedro Pires was born in 1934 on the island of Fogo. He studied in Portugal and is a veteran of the struggle for independence. He is the current President of Cape Verde, since March 2001, succeeding António Mascarenhas Monteiro.

Before becoming president he had been the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, and led the country between 1975 to 1991, when he was defeated in the country's first multi-party elections to Mr Veiga's Movement for Democracy.

Pires ran for president in February 2001, defeating former Prime Minister Carlos Veiga in the second round by an extremely narrow margin and taking office on March 22. He ran for re-election in the presidential election held on 12 February 2006 and again prevailed over Veiga, this time winning in the first round, but still with a small margin of 50.98% against 49.02% for Veiga.The pair have been Cape Verde's dominant political personalities since independence in 1975.

Over the years the PAICV has shed its Marxist leanings and has embraced the market economy. Poverty, unemployment and the state of the economy were key issues in the 2006 poll.

(Information found at wikipedia.com and bbc.co.uk)