José Maria Neves

José Maria Pereira Neves (born 28 March 1960) is a Cape Verdean politician who is currently the president of Cape Verde, having previously served as the Prime Minister of Cape Verde from 2001 to 2016.

He is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).

In the 2021 presidential election, he was elected with 51.7% of votes, beating his nearest rival Carlos Veiga who got 42.4% of the total votes.

Neves was born on the island of Santiago in 1960.

He became interested in the politics of Cape Verde as a teenager and was the leader of a nationalist youth organization during the country's transition from Portuguese rule to independence and democracy in 1975.

Part of his higher education was at the São Paulo School of Business Administration of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Brazil.

He returned to Cape Verde in the 1980s and worked as a clerk in different state institutions.

From 1987 to 1989, he was coordinator of the Project Administrative and Reform and Modernization.

From 1988 to 1988, he was director of the National Training Centre for Public Administration.

From 1989 to 1998, he was consultant in the field of National Training and Development of Human Resources Management.

In 1989, he became member of the PAICV party.

As a candidate for the party leadership at PAICV's September 1997 congress, he faced Pedro Pires; Pires defeated Neves in the leadership election, winning 68% of the vote.

In May 2000, Neves—then serving as President of the Santa Catarina Town Council—announced that he would seek the PAICV presidency again at the June 2000 party congress; Pires was leaving the PAICV presidency in anticipation of his candidacy in the next year's national presidential election.

After he became prime minister, he established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

A meeting with the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) was held in November 2002.

He also met Alamara Nhassé, Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau.

He held additional portfolio of Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2004.

In 2002, he signed a "special treaty" with the European Union, it was discussed on 15 November 2005.

In August 2005, he visited Brazil, where he toured six states and had an audience with President Lula da Silva.

A topic of discussion was investment in Cape Verde, including in the University of Cape Verde, the first public university in the archipelago.

He won the 2006 parliamentary election on 22 January with 52.28% of the votes and got 41 seats.

and on 7 March, he served his second term as prime minister.

The World Bank and the IMF judged favorably on its economic and financial policies.

While acknowledging the harmful effects of slavery and colonialism on Africa, Neves said in December 2006 that African leaders were primarily responsible for the continent's present-day problems, and that they "must assume their responsibility to develop a clear strategy for Africa's future that takes advantage of all of its human capabilities and natural resources."

In 2007, he called for a special relationship with the European Union due to the archipelago's proximity to the other islands of Macaronesia, which are regions of Spain and Portugal.

On 2 January 2007, he wanted to give Cape Verde a special status with ECOWAS.

A new government under Neves was announced on 27 June 2008, with six ministers joining the government and four ministers leaving it.

Three of the new ministers were women, making it the first government in Cape Verde with a female majority (eight out of 15 portfolios).

On 6 February 2011, he was elected to his third term by most Cape Verdean voters with 52.68% over MpD and 38 out of 72 seats, thus reinforcing his party's influence in the Cape Verdean parliament.

He visited a trading conference, the 4th Global Review of Aid for Trade in from 8 to 10 July 2013.

On 6 September 2014, he announced another government.

Janira Hopffer Almada succeeded Neves as president of the parliamentary section of the PAICV party.

After the 2016 parliamentary elections on 22 April, he was succeeded by Ulisses Correia e Silva as prime minister.

In October 2021, José Maria Neves, won the presidential election in the first round of 17 October.

According to the first results published on an official website, he won 51.5% of the vote, an absolute majority necessary to be elected in the first round.

Neves is also author of books and some news articles.

Some of these were published in other African countries and in parts of Europe and in Brazil.

He wrote: