The African Party of Independence of Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde, PAICV) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Cape Verde. It was formerly a Marxist–Leninist

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

and the sole legal party in the country from 1981 to 1990. Its members are nicknamed "" (the

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae ...

s) in Portuguese, and they identify themselves with the color yellow.

History

In 1956, its forerunner, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), was founded by the Cape Verdean

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

leader

Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, pan-Africanist, intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organizer, nationalist and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremo ...

(born in Guinea-Bissau). PAIGC fought to overthrow the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

, unify Cape Verde and

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

, and use its

vanguardism Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form orga ...

to advance

socialist revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

. From 1961 on, the PAIGC fought a guerrilla warfare campaign in cooperation with its

fraternal party A fraternal party is a political party officially affiliated with another, often larger or international, political party or governmental party, or several of them, notably when these share a political ideology. They may express this 'fraternity' ...

umbrella group, the CONCP, during the

Portuguese Colonial War The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...

. By 1973 the PAIGC controlled Guinea-Bissau, while

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

's own Carnation Revolution in 1974 effectively dissolved the empire, relinquishing Cape Verde within the next year. After the

wars of national liberation Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separa ...

, the PAIGC established a

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term '' communist state'' is of ...

within both territories under Amilcar Cabral's brother, Luís Cabral.

Establishment

Following a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

in Guinea-Bissau that ousted Cabral in November 1980, the Cape Verde portion of the party became the PAICV in January 1981; it was headed by the President of Cape Verde, Aristides Pereira.''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 113. The PAICV was Cape Verde's sole legal party from 1981 until the abolition of the one-party state in 1990.

Multiparty democracy

At an extraordinary party congress in February 1990, the PAICV approved the introduction of multiparty democracy. Pereira stepped down as General Secretary of PAICV in July 1990, and Prime Minister

Pedro Pires Pedro de Verona Rodrigues Pires (; born 29 April 1934) is a Cape Verdean politician who served as Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 1975 to 1991, and later as President from 2001 to 2011. Life and career Pires was born in São Filipe, Fogo, Cape ...

replaced him in August 1990. The PAICV won 23 of the 79 National Assembly seats in the January 1991 multiparty parliamentary election, losing to the Movement for Democracy (MpD). Pereira was subsequently defeated in the February 1991 presidential election, and PAICV again fared poorly in the December 1991 local elections. At a party congress in August 1993, Pires was replaced as General Secretary by

Aristides Lima Aristides Raimundo Lima (born August 31, 1955) is a former Cape Verdean politician and was the 4th president of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2011. in pdf Biography Aristides Lima was born in the island of Boa Vista. He later studied at th ...

and was instead elected as President of PAICV. The PAICV won 21 out of 72 National Assembly seats in the December 1995 parliamentary election. At a PAICV congress in September 1997, Pires faced

José Maria Neves José Maria Pereira Neves (; born 28 March 1960) is a Cape Verdean politician who is currently the president of Cape Verde, having previously served as the Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 2001 to 2016. He is a member of the African Party for th ...

in a leadership contest, and Pires was elected with 68% of the vote. Pires stepped down as PAICV President in 2000 in preparation for a presidential bid in the next year's election and he was succeeded by Neves.

2001 election

In the presidential election held on 11 and 25 February 2001, PAICV candidate Pedro Pires, who won 46.52% of the vote in the first round, narrowly defeated the MpD's Carlos Veiga by a margin of only 12 votes in the run-off.Elections in Cape Verde
African Elections Database

2006 election

In the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 22 January 2006, PAICV won 52.28% of the popular vote and 41 out of 72 seats in the National Assembly. In the presidential election held on 12 February 2006, Pedro Pires again narrowly defeated Carlos Veiga, winning 50.98% of the vote.

2011 election

In the

held on 7 February 2011, the PAICV led by Jose Maria Neves won 52.68% of the popular vote and 38 out of 72 seats in the National Assembly. In the presidential election held on 7 and 21 August 2011, Manuel Inocêncio Sousa lost to Jorge Carlos Fonseca (MpD) with 32.66% of the votes in the first round and 45.74% in the second round.

2016 election

PAICV lost

2016 presidential elections This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: K ...

and president Jorge Carlos Fonseca was re-elected with very clear majority of the votes. PAICV even failed to forward a candidate. Before that PAICV had lost the 2016 parliamentary election. The main opposition party Movement for Democracy (MpD) won the parliamentary elections, taking back power after 15 years.

Ideology and affiliation

The PAICV describes itself as

but began to trend towards

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

in the 2010s. The party has been placed as

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

on the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...

. The party is a full member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1981 establishments in Cape Verde Political parties established in 1981 Political parties in Cape Verde Formerly ruling communist parties Full member parties of the Socialist International