Country name:
conventional long form: Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe
conventional short form: Sao Tome and Principe
local long form: Republica Democratica de Sao Tome e Principe
local short form: Sao Tome e Principe

Government type:
republic

Capital:
name: Sao Tome
geographic coordinates: 0 20 N, 6 44 E
time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions:
2 provinces; Principe, Sao Tome
note: Principe has had self government since 29 April 1995

Independence:
12 July 1975 (from Portugal)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 12 July (1975)

Constitution:
approved March 1990, effective 10 September 1990

Legal system:
mixed legal system of civil law base on the Portuguese model and customary law

International law organization participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Manuel Pinto DA COSTA (since 3 September 2011)
head of government: Prime Minister Gabriel Arcanjo Ferreira DA COSTA (since 12 December 2012)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the proposal of the prime minister
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 17 July and 7 August 2011 (next to be held in 2016); prime minister chosen by the National Assembly and approved by the president
election results: Manuel Pinto DA COSTA elected president in a run-off election; percent of vote - Manuel Pinto DA COSTA 52.9%, Evaristo CARVALHO 47.1%

Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Assembleia Nacional (55 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 1 August 2010 (next to be held in 2014)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - ADI 26, MLSTP-PSD 21, PCD 7, MDFM 1

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the National Assembly); Constitutional Court (five judges appointed by the National Assembly for five year terms); Court of First Instance; Audit Court

Political parties and leaders:
Force for Change Democratic Movement or MDFM [Tome Soares da VERA CRUZ]; Independent Democratic Action or ADI [Patrice TROVOADA]; Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe-Social Democratic Party or MLSTP-PSD [Rafael BRANCO]; New Way Movement or NR; Party for Democratic Convergence or PCD [Delfim NEVES]; Ue-Kedadji coalition; other small parties

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Association of Sao Tome and Principe NGOs or FONG
other: the media

International organization participation:
ACP, AfDB, AOSIS, AU, CD, CPLP, EITI (candidate country), FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Ovidio Manuel Barbosa PEQUENO
chancery: 1211 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036
telephone: [1] (202) 775-2075, 2076
FAX: [1] (202) 775-2077

Diplomatic representation from the US:
the US does not have an embassy in Sao Tome and Principe; the Ambassador to Gabon is accredited to Sao Tome and Principe on a nonresident basis and makes periodic visits to the islands

Flag description:
three horizontal bands of green (top), yellow (double width), and green with two black five-pointed stars placed side by side in the center of the yellow band and a red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side; green stands for the country's rich vegetation, red recalls the struggle for independence, and yellow represents cocoa, one of the country's main agricultural products; the two stars symbolize the two main islands
note: uses the popular Pan-African colors of Ethiopia

National anthem:
name: "Independencia total" (Total Independence)

NOTE: 1) The information regarding Sao Tome and Principe on this page is re-published from the 2013 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Sao Tome and Principe Government 2013 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Sao Tome and Principe Government 2013 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
  a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order

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