Damião Vaz d'Almeida

Damiao Vaz d' Almeida (born 28 April 1951) was from 2004 to 2005 Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Political career

Damiao Vaz d' Almeida comes from the island of Príncipe, where he was President of the Parliament of this district as well as from 29 April 1995 to 12 April 2002 head of the regional government. He belongs to the Party was founded in 1960 Movimento de São Tomé e Príncipe de Libertação ( MLSTP - PSD), reigned as the Unity Party after 1975 until the introduction of democracy 1990/1991. In May 1998 he became its vice president. He belonged to the governments of Gabriel Arcanjo da Costa and Maria das Neves as Minister of Labour.

After the dismissal of Maria das Neves on charges of corruption by President Fradique de Menezes, he was nominated by his party as Prime Minister and appointed by the President. On 18 September 2004, he did on his post and formed a government from members of his Social Democratic MLSTP - PSD and the acção Democrática Independente (AID).

On 2 June 2005, he submitted his resignation and declared this step with the increasingly poorer relationship with President Menezes, which make further cooperation impossible. In addition, his government fell by a strike of public service under pressure. Six days later, the former Governor of the Central Bank Maria do Carmo Silveira, also MLSTP - PSD, his successor.