Rights
1990 Constitution, semi-presidential, with a Constitutional Court and an autonomous Príncipe
The 1990 Constitution introduced multiparty democracy and a semi-presidential system in which the President and the Prime Minister share executive authority, a division that has produced repeated cohabitation friction. The island of Príncipe has had political and administrative autonomy since 1995. The Tribunal Constitucional exercises constitutional review.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Tribunal Constitucional reviews constitutionality; the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça heads the ordinary courts.
Governing law
- Constituição da República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe 1990revised 2003
- Estatuto Político-Administrativo da Região Autónoma do Príncipe1995
In practice
São Tomé and Príncipe is a microstate of about 220,000 people whose semi-presidential design, borrowed from Portugal, has generated frequent institutional conflict between president and government. Príncipe's autonomy statute gives the smaller island its own regional government, an arrangement unusual at this scale.