According to provisional results released Monday, Neves won the presidential election on Sunday.
Seven contenders vied to succeed Jorge Fonseca, who had served his two-term maximum as president of the Atlantic archipelago nation.
According to the official results, Mr. Neves, 61, a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) and former leader of government from 2001 to 2016, received 51.7 percent of the vote, an absolute majority required to be elected.
Mr Neves won 99.4 percent of voting stations, according to election officials, putting him well ahead of Carlos Veiga of the Movement for Democracy (MpD).
According to the election results, Mr Veiga, 71, a former prime minister who served from 1991 to 2000, received 42.6 percent of the vote. Five other candidates received less than 2% of the vote.
Mr. Neves, the newly elected president, will be in charge of stabilizing the island nation’s tourism-driven economy, which has been ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Cape Verde is still in the midst of an economic downturn, with output falling 14.8% in 2020, owing in part to the country’s reliance on tourism, which accounts for 25% of GDP.
Mr. Neves stated that he aspires to be a president that “unites, protects, and cares” for the people.
“I must say that it is a great responsibility to preside over the Cape Verdean nation in these difficult times, and I receive this victory with the great humility that has always characterised me,” he told supporters after his victory.
The MpD and PAICV will exchange power for the fourth time since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975, cementing Cape Verde’s position as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.
