{"id":45483,"date":"2026-09-15T07:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45483"},"modified":"2026-09-15T07:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:25:11","slug":"sao-tome-and-principe-political-campaign-opens","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sao-tome-and-principe-political-campaign-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe political campaign opens \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Official campaigning for S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe&#8217;s legislative, municipal, and regional elections has opened amidst heightened political tension following protests over candidate exclusions ahead of the 27 September polls.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The start of the campaign period was marked by public demonstrations following a Constitutional Court ruling that barred the opposition coalition MCI-PS-PUN from contesting legislative seats in four districts, including key diaspora constituencies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Opposition supporters have criticised the court&#8217;s decision, raising concerns over political inclusion and democratic process fairness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With voting scheduled for September 27, national and international focus has shifted to the ability of state institutions, electoral bodies, and political parties to maintain peace and ensure a transparent process that meets citizen expectations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":39995,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-45483","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Tensions rise in S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe as campaign period begins for September 27 elections","published_date":"2026-09-15 07:22:34","news_description":"Tensions rise in S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe as campaign period begins for September 27 elections","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45484,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45483\/revisions\/45484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}