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afrol.com, 11 November - Pedro Pires, President of Cape Verde, says he has decided not to run for a second presidential term in the 2005 elections. According to the Head of State, his high age (68 years) has left him to conclude on retirement from political life when his term comes to an end. According to information gathered by the daily media 'Visão News', the decision to step down in 2005 "has already been taken." The media quotes sources "very close to the President of the Republic." In public, on the other hand, President Pires has not commented concretely on his political future, but has assured he "will make this public in due time." When finishing his first presidential term in 2005, Mr Pires will be 71 years old. If opting for a second term - which would be allowed by the Cape Verdean constitution - Mr Pires would thus reach the age of 75 during his final year in power. President Peres was said to prefer spending his old age year with his family and "maybe writing". Members of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) responded quickly to the news. For many, the envisaged step down in 2005 came as an indication of "the dignity of this person, which participates in politics out of a spirit of mission rather than to abuse its possibilities." Mr Pires, ones leader of the centre-left PAICV party, had only won the controversial January 2001 elections by the smallest possible margins. A recount found that there had been 13 more votes for Mr Pires than for the country's former Prime Minister and leader of the Movement for Democracy (MPD), Carlos Veiga. As PAICV leader, Mr Pires also helped the party back to credibility and political power. While Cape Verde was run by the PAICV as a one-party state from 1975 to 1991, the MPD won the parliamentary majority and the presidency in the first multi-party elections. After the legislative elections in January 2000, PAICV returned to power with an absolute majority in the National Assembly. While the presidency traditionally has been strong in Cape Verde, President Pires so far fully has respected the 1999 constitutional revision that lays more powers in government offices and in the Parliament. In practical terms, the government, led by PAICV Prime Minister José Maria Neves, now takes all major decisions in Cape Verde and answers to the Parliament. Pedro Pires is the third President of Cape Verde since independence from Portugal in 1975. After the 16-year rule of PAICV President Aristides Pereira, the presidency was taken over by MPD leader Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro in 1991. President Mascarenhas served the two terms allowed according to the constitution before stepping down voluntarily in 2001.
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