This story is part of our coverage of the Cape Verde presidential election 2026. Dates, times and how to follow it are in our guide.
Latest: Cabo Verde Picks a President on Sunday
Campaign Ends Before Sunday’s Vote
The campaign for Cabo Verde’s presidential election closes today, Friday, November 13, two days before the first round. Our Cape Verde presidential election 2026 hub carries every update as it arrives.
President José Maria Neves, who seeks re-election with the backing of the governing African Party for the Independence of Cabo Verde (PAICV), closes his campaign in the capital, Praia. Joana Rosa, a former justice minister, holds her closing rally in Praia’s Achada Santo António neighbourhood.
Rosa is backed by the Movement for Democracy (MpD), which lost power in the May legislative election after ten years in government. The other four candidates are Gilson Alves, Casimiro Pina, Antero Tavares and Loisito de Sousa, none with major-party backing.
How Voting Day Will Run
Polls on the islands open at 8 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 15, which is 4 a.m. ET, and close at 6 p.m. local time, or 2 p.m. ET. Lisbon time is 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If no candidate wins more than half of valid votes, a runoff follows on Sunday, November 29. President Neves set both dates by decree in July, after consulting the parties and the Council of the Republic, his advisory body.
The National Elections Commission (CNE) organises the vote.
File photo. Terraced farmland on Santo Antão, Cabo Verde, April 2017. Photo: Zinneke / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).Crypto — Live Market Board
What Is at Stake
Neves won the 2021 first round with about 51.7% of the vote, so turnout is one figure to watch alongside the margin. The winner serves a five-year term.
A Neves victory would leave the PAICV holding both the presidency and the government under Prime Minister Francisco Carvalho. The PAICV won the May 17 legislative election with an absolute majority, and Carvalho, its leader and a former mayor of Praia, became prime minister.
Rosa therefore carries the colours of a party that lost power six months ago.
What Prediction Markets Say
Polymarket prices Neves at about 96.8% to win and Rosa at about 3.6%, as of 8:26 a.m. ET on November 13. About US$43,000 has been traded on that market, which is thin, and the prices are bets, not polls.
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
Polls open at 4 a.m. ET on Sunday and close at 2 p.m. ET, so US readers can follow the count through the morning. Cabo Verdeans abroad, including those in the United States, can vote at diaspora polling stations.
Cabo Verde is a ten-island Atlantic nation off West Africa with a large diaspora in the United States, and it is often cited as a stable democracy in the region. A clear first-round result would signal continuity for its government.
What Is Not Known
We found no independent poll by a named institute, so the only quantitative gauge is prediction-market pricing. We could not confirm when or where the CNE will announce official results.
We also could not confirm any broadcaster or livestream of the count for US audiences.
Sources
National Elections Commission (CNE) of Cabo Verde; Constitutional Court of Cabo Verde; Polymarket.
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