Each candidate has proposals to persuade the diaspora, especially in the health and education sectors, where there are more problems.
Living in Portugal for two decades, Solange Salvatierra is the only woman to run for the first time in the European constituency for MP in Sunday’s legislative elections, representing the Basta movement.
The Sao Tomean immigrant is particularly concerned about the condition of patients who are sent to Portugal with the medical board, who often have problems with housing for financial reasons.
Solange Salvaterra, BASTA motion filter
“We will not wait for the government to help us. As expatriates and as a people of solidarity, we will do our part and try to contact the business people of Sao Tome, who are well-meaning in Portugal, to see if we can rehabilitate an apartment and house patients who are in more worrisome situations”, he defends.
“The Embassy of Sao Tome and Principe in Lisbon is doing everything it can,” admits the BASTA candidate. “Oftentimes these patients, including people with children, are placed in the middle of the street at night, and the most urgent solution that the embassy finds is to house these patients in pensions, hostels and the like. And I think São Tomín would also be willing to help with That connection, because the medical board patients are all of us.”
Cultural center and working capital
Solange Salvatierra says it’s a problem that needs to be resolved, regardless of who wins the election. The candidate also proposes the creation of an institute for the diaspora, with different objectives, as well as the idea of establishing a cultural center in Sao Tome and Principe.
It also proposes the creation of a working capital, with the contribution of the community and friends of São Toméan, with the aim of supporting students with various difficulties.
Jess Flander, MLSTP-PSD filter
“When they get here, they are faced with registration, with tuition fees, with a place to be and get lost. There are some who are still able to work, have been able to register, and have been able to pay tuition, but others I cannot finish the course,” he recalled.
Jess Flander, a resident of Portugal for over 14 years, is a candidate for the Liberation Movement of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP-PSD). Several proposals have also been submitted to the Sao Tome community. First, he sees a “clear need” to institutionalize state-diaspora relations.
He pointed out that “the state should take upon itself the responsibility to confront the expatriates as a partner in development. This institutionalization takes place in three aspects: economic, social and cultural.”
The problem of the medical board
In the social sphere, the biggest headache for expats lies in the field of health. Jess Flander of the State of Sao Tome is asking for a dialogue with the Portuguese authorities to review the 1977 Medical Council Agreement, taking into account the growing and alarming dimension of the problems.
“There is also a clear need for the State of Sao Tome to seek a partnership with Portuguese entities, in order to alleviate the problem of the Medical Council. From the very beginning, the State must also consider Social Security itself responsible.”
Putting students of Sao Tome in Portugal is also on the candidate’s agenda. He defends this, saying: “Many students have left to study and train – they are investments for the state. But during that time, how many have they returned? Few. There should be clear monitoring of these students.”
DW tried to hear from the other four candidates, but communication was not possible.
Sao Tome analyst Danilo Salvatierra is skeptical about the candidacies of the diaspora, from which one representative for Europe and one for Africa will be elected.
“I don’t think they even understand what they are running for yet. Let’s wait and see, after they are elected, what they will do and under what circumstances? Because none of this has ever been explained,” he notes.
Thunderstorm return
A few days after the legislative, municipal and regional elections scheduled for Sunday, Salvatierra sees that the parties have not yet been able to provide an accurate idea of the country over the coming decades.
The analyst, for example, points to the return of the leader of the Independent Democratic Action, Patrice Trovoada, to Sao Tome, last weekend. “In the first place, it must be seen as the inability of the executive branch in office to bring São Toméan together on a project. Second, I understand this as a failure of all other leaders in the country, including ADI itself, whose leader is a hostage. Absent” .
However, Danilo Salvatierra considers the ability of Patrice Trovoada himself, despite his absence for four years, to influence voters compared to the leaders located in the territory of Sao Tome as “interesting”.
But he doesn’t think ADI’s victory is very clear, given the rise of MLSTP-PSD, the ruling party. “Everything will depend on the resources that both of these parties provide to their campaign teams,” he says.
According to the information available, the polling stations in the European session will operate next Sunday in Portugal, France, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.
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