Manuel Pinto da Costa
Manuel Pinto da Costa ( * August 5, 1937 in Agua Grande ) is an economist and politician of São Tomé and Príncipe. Pinto da Costa received his doctorate at the Humboldt University in Berlin and is fluent in German, apart from Portuguese. Manuel Pinto da Costa has been elected for the second time as President of São Tomé and Príncipe in August 2011. He has held this office from 1975 to 1991. At that time, he led the country with an iron hand and played an important role in the struggle for independence from Portugal.
Early years
He grew up on the island at that time belonging to Portugal Sao Tome and received his PhD in economics. He spent a part of his study time in the GDR. In the early 1960s he joined the independence movement CLSTP, operating from Gabon. Later, he was founder and Secretary General of the movement, which was renamed in Movimento de São Tomé e Príncipe de Libertação ( MLSTP ) 1972. He served on the founding board of the student association founded in 1961 by the Portuguese colonies in Africa UGEAN ( União Geral the Estudantes Africa Negra sob dominação colonial portuguesa da) to.
President
With the independence of the archipelago of Portugal on 12 July 1975, he became the first president and the MLSTP Unity Party. In March 1979, he also took over the functions of government. The Office was not until 1988 that reintroduced. He also held more ministerial posts at times as the Minister of Foreign Affairs itself. His government has been repeatedly faced with coup attempts, last tried on 8 March 1988, a group of 44 gunmen to assassinate him. In addition, he had to prevail against competitors within the MLSTP so against his Defense Minister Daniel Lima dos Santos Daio, whose term of office he took over in 1982. Until the mid- 1980s, the country refused under his leadership closely to the Eastern Bloc and ran a socialist policies. In the course of democratization is called his party in October 1990 MLSTP - PSD and represented since a social democratic course. At the same time Carlos Graça new Secretary General was there. In the first free presidential elections, he decided not to run and was replaced on 3 April 1991 from its 1979 dismissed and temporarily imprisoned former Prime Minister Miguel Trovoada. Previously, the MLSTP - PSD had lost its leading role in the parliamentary elections of 20 January 1991.
Opposition politicians
In the following years, his party gained strength again and was in the parliamentary elections on 3 October 1994 with 27 of 55 seats again strongest party. He competed in 1996 against Trovoada for the presidency and was defeated on July 27, 1996 at the second ballot with 47.3 % of votes. Five years later, he ran again and lost time on 29 July 2001, the first ballot with 38.73 % against Fradique de Menezes, who took for Trovoadas party Ação Democrática Independente (ADI ). Despite the two defeats his party maintained its leading position in parliamentary elections.
In May 1998, he was elected President of the MLSTP - PSD and remained until February 2005 at the office when Posser Guilherme da Costa became his successor. 2002 intervened to protect his office. The backgrounds of the fact remained unclear. Together with other former heads of state he belongs to the African Statesmen Initiative, which promotes the spread of democracy in Africa. Manuel Pinto da Costa was appointed by his country, was sent as ambassador to the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, an inter-governmental organization with headquarters in Italy, where it is Chairman of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Renewed presidential
In the took place on July 17, 2011 presidential elections, he was the leading candidate to succeed President Fradique de Menezes, however, were only decided in a runoff election. On August 7, he won the second round of the presidential election with 52.88 percent, or 35,112 votes. His adversary Evaristo Carvalho could unite 31,287 votes, which are 47.12 percent. On 3 September 2011, he took over his new post.