(SAO TOME, STP) - Former Sao Tome strongman Manuel Pinto da Costa was elected president of the African island nation, winning 52.88 percent of a second round vote, the national election commission said Monday.
Pinto da Costa ruled the archipelago with an iron fist for 15 years after independence from Portugal in 1975. His rival, parliament speaker Evaristo Carvalho garnered 47.12 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, the poll body said.
The 75-year-old Pinto da Costa led a one-party socialist state inspired by communism. He also served twice as prime minister, the first time under the country's first democratic president Miguel Trovoada.
Pinto da Costa won the first round with 35.58 percent of the ballot after an election campaign focused on the need for stability in a nation that saw 18 prime ministers in power in just 21 years after the country adopted a multi-party system in 1990.
He also pledged to fight against the rife corruption that has prohibited economic development for Sao Tome.
Rival Carvalho, 70, who received 21.74 percent of the first-round vote, is a member of the Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party, which came top in legislative elections in August 2010.
He also made fighting corruption a key manifesto pledge.
Under Sao Tome law, outgoing president Fradique de Menezes, who was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2006, cannot seek a third mandate.
