CABO VERDE · ELECTIONS · EXPLAINER
Cabo Verde, also spelled Cape Verde, elects its president on Sunday, 15 November 2026, and a runoff follows on Sunday, 29 November if no candidate wins an absolute majority. The country is a semi-presidential republic, so voters choose a head of state with real but limited powers, while a prime minister backed by parliament runs the government.
A plain guide to how Cabo Verde, an island democracy off West Africa, chooses its leaders, and what is still unknown before the 15 November vote.
This guide explains who holds which power, how two-round voting and diaspora voting work, and how results come in. Our what-to-watch guide to the presidential vote covers the race itself.
File photo. Aerial view of Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde, undated. Photo: David Trainer, public domain, Wikimedia Commons.How the Semi-Presidential System Works
Cabo Verde is an archipelago of ten volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Senegal. It is a semi-presidential republic, which means two offices share power: a president chosen directly by voters and a prime minister who needs the support of parliament.
The Constitution makes the president head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces. The prime minister leads the government, which sets national policy and answers politically to the National Assembly, the 72-seat parliament.
What the President Can and Cannot Do
The president names the prime minister, but must first hear the parties in parliament and take the election result into account. In practice the winning party gets the job, which is why Francisco Carvalho of the PAICV took office as prime minister on 19 June 2026 after his party won the 17 May election.
The president can veto a law within 30 days of receiving it, but the National Assembly can override the veto with an absolute majority of its members. The president can also ask the Constitutional Court, which rules on constitutional questions, to review certain laws and treaties before they take effect.
The president may dissolve parliament after hearing the parties, but not in the first 12 months after an election and not in the final year of the presidential term. In a grave institutional crisis, dissolution also needs the favourable opinion of the Council of the Republic, an advisory body.
The president chairs the Council of Ministers, the cabinet, only when the prime minister asks, and promulgates laws, meaning signs them into force. The president appoints and dismisses ministers on the prime minister’s proposal.
A state of siege or emergency can be declared only after the government is heard and the Assembly authorises it. Together these powers make the president a check on the government rather than its head.
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The Prime Minister and Parliament
The prime minister presides over the cabinet and directs government policy, so the parliamentary election decides everyday policy. The presidential vote decides who holds the head-of-state office and its checks on the government.
For a closer look at the current office-holders, see our guide to who holds power in Cabo Verde. The prime minister and cabinet answer to the National Assembly, which can pass censure motions against them.
The Assembly has 72 seats: 66 for voters at home and 6 for Cabo Verdeans abroad. Seats are shared by proportional representation using the D’Hondt method, a formula that allocates seats in line with each party’s votes, across 13 electoral circles, three of them abroad.
On 17 May 2026 the PAICV won 37 seats with 48.04% of the vote, and the MpD took 33 seats with 44.75%. The Union of Cabo Verdean Independents (UCID), a small party based on São Vicente island, won two seats, and turnout was 46.5%, with about 193,000 votes cast by 416,096 registered voters, the CNE says.
Who Can Run for President
A candidate must be Cabo Verdean by origin with no other nationality, be older than 35 on the date of filing, and have lived in the country for the three years before filing. At least 1,001 and at most 4,000 registered voters must propose the candidacy, which is filed with the Constitutional Court at least 60 days before the vote.
A president serves five years, and the limit is two consecutive terms, after which a five-year gap is required. José Maria Neves, president since 2021, is seeking his second term.
For 2026 the filing deadline was 16 September, and the Constitutional Court ruled on appeals before the final list of six candidates was set. The CNE page lists them alphabetically by first name: Antero Tavares, Casimiro de Pina, Gilson Alves, Joana Rosa, José Maria Neves and Loisito de Sousa.
How Two-Round Voting Works
To win in round one, a candidate needs more than half of the valid votes, and blank votes are not counted. If nobody reaches that line, the two leaders meet in a runoff, which the calendar sets for Sunday, 29 November 2026.
The runoff would be held two weeks after the first round, and it is a straight contest between the two leaders. Official result files published by the CNE show two-round presidential contests in 2001 and 2011.
In 2021 Neves won outright in the first round with just over half of the valid votes, so no runoff was needed. Every directly elected president who sought a second term has so far won it.
File photo. Praça Nova in central Mindelo, on São Vicente island, February 2015. Photo: Balou46, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.How Cabo Verdeans Abroad Vote
Cabo Verdeans abroad vote for the president as well as for parliament, because the Constitution gives the vote to registered electors at home and overseas. The CNE groups overseas voters into three circles: Africa, the Americas, and Europe and the rest of the world.
The CNE places the United States in the Americas circle. Our guide for US-based voters and visitors has the practical details.
In the presidential vote, the Constitution caps votes cast abroad at one fifth of the votes counted inside the country. For parliament, six of the 72 seats belong to the diaspora.
The Two Big Parties
The PAICV traces its roots to the movement that led Cabo Verde to independence from Portugal in 1975, and it ruled alone until multiparty politics arrived in 1991. The MpD, formed to end that one-party era, won the first multiparty elections in 1991, and the two parties have alternated in power since.
Neves, prime minister from 2001 to 2016 under the PAICV, is closely linked to that party. Joana Rosa, a former justice minister, is the best-known challenger.
How Results Come in
Ballots are counted first at each polling station. Results are then combined at intermediate counting bodies and finally in a general count run by the CNE, which proclaims the outcome.
The CNE’s electoral calendar sets municipal counting from Monday, 16 November and says it is due to finish by Wednesday, 18 November. Early figures on election night are unofficial until the CNE publishes them.
What Prediction Markets Say
Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market where traders stake real money, priced Neves at 95.8% and Rosa at 0.9% on Saturday, 7 November, at 9:13 a.m. Eastern time. About US$41,400 had been traded on the market, and our earlier odds report shows how it has moved.
Prices are bets, not polls, and this is a thin market that also lists names that are not on the CNE ballot. Read them as a signal of expectations, not as a forecast.
Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.
What It Means for US Readers
Cabo Verde has a large diaspora in the United States. The CNE places the United States in its Americas voting circle, so registered voters there can take part on 15 November.
At home, polls run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cabo Verde time, which is 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time. We could not confirm the polling hours abroad.
For travellers and investors, the practical point is continuity: the government is formed from the parliament elected in May, so the presidential result is unlikely to change economic policy directly. A first-round win would settle the matter on election day, while a runoff would add two weeks of campaigning.
What Is Not Known
We could not confirm at a primary source how many voters are registered for the presidential vote (416,096 were registered for the May parliamentary vote) or at what hour the CNE will release provisional results. Polling hours abroad also need checking with the CNE for each country.
Neves announced his candidacy on Monday, 14 September 2026, and the Electoral Code, the law that governs elections, requires a sitting officeholder who runs to suspend his functions. In that case the Constitution makes the speaker of the National Assembly, Janira Hopffer Almada, the interim president, but we found no official notice confirming that either step has happened.
The CNE candidate list does not state the party backing of any candidate, and we found no opinion poll from a named institute. Whether the first round settles the race will be known only when the CNE counts the votes.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Cabo Verde presidential election?
The first round is on Sunday, 15 November 2026, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. A runoff, only if no candidate wins an absolute majority, is on Sunday, 29 November.
How does two-round voting work in Cabo Verde?
A candidate needs more than half of the valid votes, and blank votes do not count. If nobody gets there, the top two candidates face a runoff.
Who runs the government in Cabo Verde?
The prime minister, currently Francisco Carvalho of the governing PAICV, runs the government and answers to parliament. The president is head of state and names the prime minister after hearing the parties.
Can Cabo Verdeans abroad vote for president?
Yes, registered voters abroad can vote in the presidential election, in one of three overseas circles. Polling hours abroad should be checked with the CNE.
Who are the candidates for president in 2026?
Six candidates are on the ballot: Antero Tavares, Casimiro de Pina, Gilson Alves, Joana Rosa, José Maria Neves and Loisito de Sousa. Neves has been president since 2021 and Rosa is a former justice minister.
Sources: National Elections Commission of Cabo Verde (CNE), presidential election 2026 pages and results of the 17 May 2026 legislative election, read 7 November 2026; Constitution of the Republic of Cabo Verde, as published by the Government of Cabo Verde; Electoral Code of Cabo Verde, Official Gazette; Constitutional Court of Cabo Verde, rulings on presidential candidacies, September 2026; Polymarket market data, read Saturday, 7 November 2026, 9:13 a.m. Eastern time.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI ·