Joana Rosa and four other opposition candidates face off against President Jose Maria Neves, who wants a second term.

Voters have begun casting their ballots in Cape Verde, where President Jose Maria Neves is facing off against the West African island nation’s first female presidential candidate, Joana Rosa, in a vote hinging on slowing down persistent emigration.

More than 300,000 people are eligible to vote on Sunday from 8am to 6pm (09:00 GMT to 19:00 GMT) and will choose from six presidential candidates in a country known for its stability in the politically volatile region.

Neves, a member of the country’s oldest political party, the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), is tipped to be the favourite but faces his strongest challenger in Rosa of the Movement for Democracy party.

The 66-year-old served as prime minister for 15 years and became president in 2021. His party won 37 of 72 parliamentary seats in May, allowing Neves to appoint Francisco Carvalho, then mayor of the capital, Praia, as prime minister.

Rosa, an opposition candidate and former justice minister, is the first woman to run for president since independence in 1975. Her party governed for 10 years before the May vote.

The country runs a hybrid parliamentary-presidential system of government that sees the president enjoy veto authority and a mediating role.

Tourist haven

Cape Verde, a tourism haven located off the coast of Senegal, gained global fame this year after its men’s football team battled with much bigger nations to reach the World Cup knockout stages. In April, a cruise ship sailing off its coast was struck by a hantavirus outbreak.

Emigration has long been a problem because of a dearth of jobs. The archipelago has more people living in the diaspora than the 500,000 people residing on its islands. Most are in Portugal, its former coloniser, and the United States.

Nearly 77,000 diaspora Cape Verdeans are registered to vote at embassies abroad.

Neves has promised to organise a youth summit to address emigration if he is elected to a second term. Rosa, meanwhile, called for a government that allows young people “to build their futures here at home and prevent the continued exodus of young Cape Verdeans abroad”.

But many voters feel distant from the political class over concerns that it doesn’t understand their daily difficulties, Roselma Evora, a professor of political science and gender studies at the University of Cabo Verde, told The Associated Press news agency.

Results are expected within two to three days.

Candidates must clinch more than 50 percent of the vote to win, or the top two candidates will face a run-off vote on November 29.