Election Lawsuits and Disputes in São Tomé and Príncipe

Election lawsuits in São Tomé and Príncipe have followed a recognizable pattern since 2018: contested tallies land before the Constitutional Court, procedural gaps get exploited for political advantage, and the rulings themselves have sometimes contradicted each other. The disputes have included a presidential recount case decided twice in opposite directions, campaign-finance fines imposed on every one of the 19 candidates from the 2021 race, a retroactive coalition claim after the 2022 legislative vote, and criminal proceedings tied to an attempted coup that the president publicly blamed on election denial.

The 2021 Presidential Election and the Dueling Court Rulings

The first round of the 2021 presidential election, held on July 18, drew 19 candidates. The National Electoral Commission (CEN) released preliminary results that failed to account for more than five percent of the votes cast.¹

Third-place finisher Delfim Neves, then president of the National Assembly, alleged fraud and sought a full recount or the annulment of the vote.² The Constitutional Court then issued two contradictory rulings under the same decision number. The first rejected the recount. Two days later, a second ruling granted it, signed by two General Tabulation Assembly judges considered politically close to the complainant.¹

Resolution required the intervention of the outgoing president and the Superior Council of Judicial Magistrates. The Constitutional Court ultimately rejected the recount, corrected the results, and confirmed the original candidate ranking. The EU observation mission framed the episode as evidence of institutional fragility and growing political influence over the judiciary; its report did not describe any specific disciplinary sanctions against the judges involved.

The dispute paralyzed the process for weeks. The runoff, first scheduled for August 8, was postponed twice before being held on September 5, 2021, with the National Assembly voting to set the new date and extend the outgoing president’s term.²³⁴

Campaign Finance Fines on All 19 Presidential Candidates

A second legal track from the 2021 race is still live. In May 2022, the Constitutional Court fined each of the 19 candidates 375,000 dobra (about 15,000 euros) for failing to submit campaign accounts within 90 days of the official results, as required by an electoral law revision.⁵ Eight candidates, including President Vila Nova, jointly asked for the fines to be annulled. The court denied that request in June 2022 and referred the matter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for enforcement by August 2022.

As of May 2026, Vila Nova has paid in full. The president of the Constitutional Court said Vila Nova had been “misled” about the process and paid once the new court composition raised it with him. Delfim Neves has been paying in monthly installments; other candidates reportedly remain subject to the fines.⁵ Civil society groups have petitioned the Constitutional Court to bar candidates with outstanding fines from running in 2026. The court’s plenary was evaluating that petition as of early 2026.

The 2022 Legislative Election Challenges

Legislative elections on September 25, 2022, filled all 55 seats in the National Assembly. ADI won an absolute majority with 30 seats, followed by the MLSTP-PSD with 18, MCI/PS-PUN with 5, and Basta! with 2.¹ International observers assessed the vote as generally free and fair.⁶

The tabulation phase, though, produced two legal flashpoints. The CEN released preliminary results more than 29 hours after polls closed and did not provide breakdowns by polling station or electoral district, departing from past practice and diverging from parties’ parallel vote counts. ADI supporters protested and burned tires near CEN offices, which were surrounded by the military.⁷ CEN president Judge José Carlos Barreiros declined to distribute seats by party, citing discrepancies in the parties’ projections, and referred the seat allocation to the Constitutional Court.

The second challenge came from three parties that had run separately. Basta!, MDFM-UL, and UDD filed what the EU observation mission called a “belated and implausible request” to retroactively register an electoral coalition they said had been agreed before the vote. Combining their totals could have shifted seat allocations. The General Tabulation Assembly dismissed the request and finalized the seat distribution on October 3, 2022, from the district-level results.¹ The episode exposed a gap in the 2021 electoral reforms, which left the timeline for registering coalitions unclear.

Election Denial and the November 2022 Coup Attempt

On November 24–25, 2022, weeks after the legislative vote, armed assailants attacked army headquarters in the capital. The government described it as an attempted coup, halted after six hours of gunfire.⁸ President Vila Nova stated publicly that the coup was led by “those who do not accept the election results.”⁹

Twelve soldiers and four civilians were accused. The alleged mastermind, Arlécio Costa, was reportedly motivated by the seizure of land granted to him after a prior 2003 coup attempt. Delfim Neves, who had challenged the 2021 presidential result, was arrested on suspicion of involvement and later released.¹⁰

Six of the seven suspects detained after the attack, including Costa, died in custody. Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada called the deaths “extrajudicial executions” and the victims “key witnesses.”⁸ A Portuguese medical examiner invited by the government confirmed the suspects had been killed by torture, findings corroborated by videos posted online.¹⁰ The government dismissed the Chief of the Army and other soldiers implicated. In October 2023 testimony, a Portuguese investigator identified Costa as the mastermind and detailed allegations that Neves had facilitated the seizure of Costa’s land for personal gain. As of early 2024, the soldiers responsible for the detainees’ deaths were set to be tried by a military tribunal rather than a civilian criminal court, and those proceedings remained ongoing.

Who Decides Election Disputes

Under the 2003 Constitution, the Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) is the final authority on the regularity and validity of electoral processes. Its jurisdiction covers appeals over the loss of parliamentary seats, challenges to election results and political-party decisions, verification of the legality of party formations and coalitions, and dissolution orders where warranted.¹¹ The court also defines electoral districts; in May 2022 it presented a new parliamentary district map that included two diaspora seats created by the 2021 reforms.¹²

Vote totals move through District Tabulation Assemblies and the General Tabulation Assembly before final certification. The constitutional text gives the court broad authority, but in practice limited resources, staffing shortages, and the absence of common regulations for parts of the process such as candidate registration have constrained how that authority operates.

Why the Same Problems Keep Returning

The EU’s 2022 observation mission identified several recurring weaknesses behind the pattern of post-election litigation:

The CEN is a short-term, ad hoc body reconstituted for each election, which blocks institutional memory, staff expertise, and timely resource mobilization.
The 2021 reforms, which revised six electoral statutes, left critical questions unresolved, including which body bears primary responsibility for voter registration. That gap led to the non-implementation of a mandatory voter register update, disenfranchising first-time voters.
Disputes in 2018, 2021, and 2022 all showed signs of political influence over judicial proceedings. In 2018, a local judge granted an ADI request for a recount of invalid votes after legislative elections; the final outcome was not changed, but the episode raised early concerns about political pressure on the courts.
Gaps in the legal framework have been used tactically, from the retroactive coalition request in 2022 to the dueling rulings in 2021.

The EU mission issued 22 recommendations after the 2022 elections, six of them designated as priorities, including making the CEN permanent and independent, building a reliable voter-registration mechanism, eliminating ambiguities in electoral law, and implementing a gender parity law before 2026.¹³ A follow-up mission in June 2024 noted that the window for comprehensive reform before 2026 was narrowing. That same month, the Constitutional Court established a commission to monitor political-party and campaign accounts.¹⁴

What’s Pending Before the 2026 Vote

In January 2025, President Vila Nova dismissed Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada and his government. The Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal exceeded the president’s constitutional powers, though the ruling did not reverse the political outcome.¹⁵ The episode deepened a split within ADI, with Trovoada leading a faction opposed to the president.

Presidential elections are scheduled for July 19, 2026, with a potential runoff on August 9. Legislative, regional, and local elections follow in September 2026. Vila Nova is seeking a second term, the MLSTP-PSD hopes to capitalize on the ADI split, and jurist Miques João Bonfim has formalized a presidential bid.⁵ The Constitutional Court petition to disqualify candidates with unpaid 2021 campaign fines remains pending and is positioned to become the next election-related legal fight before voting begins.

1
European External Action Service. EU Election Observation Mission São Tomé and Príncipe Final Report
2
Amani Africa. Report of AUC Chairperson on Elections in Africa, July–December 2021
3
Africanews. Opposition Candidate Carlos Vila Nova Wins São Tomé Presidency
4
Diplomat Magazine. São Tomé e Príncipe Invested President Vila Nova
5
Plataforma Media. São Tomé President Pays Campaign Fine
6
U.S. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: São Tomé and Príncipe
7
Africanews. São Tomé Opposition Wins Legislative Vote
8
Africanews. Attempted Coup in São Tomé: Prime Minister Speaks of Extrajudicial Executions
9
ADF Magazine. Election Denial Likely Cause of São Tomé and Príncipe Coup, Analysts Say
10
Parley Policy. Examining the São Tomé and Príncipe Coup Attempt
11
UN Women Constitutions Database. Constitution of São Tomé and Príncipe
12
Freedom House. Freedom in the World 2023: São Tomé and Príncipe
13
European External Action Service. EU Election Follow-Up Mission Welcomes Efforts to Implement Recommendations
14
Freedom House. Freedom in the World 2025: São Tomé and Príncipe
15
Robert Lansing Institute. São Tomé and Príncipe’s 2026 Presidential Election