National Assembly (Cape Verde) National Assembly (Cape Verde) The unicameral National Assembly (Portuguese: "Assembleia Nacional") is the legislative body of the Republic of Cape Verde. The country's first legislative election took place in June 1975. The body was known as the National People's Assembly and its members came from the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which was the sole political party allowed to field candidates. They elected PAIGC Secretary-general Aristides Pereira President on 5 July 1975, when the country officially gained independence from Portugal. One-party elections were again held on 7 December 1980 with Pereira being re-elected unopposed
National Assembly (Cape Verde) by the Assembly on 12 February 1981. That same year the Cape Verdean branch of the PAIGC, which was also the ruling party in Guinea-Bissau, was renamed African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). Elections for an enlarged 83-seat National People's Assembly took place on 7 December 1985. For the first time a few independent, PAICV-endorsed candidates won seats in the legislature. In 1990, Cape Verde became one of the first African countries to abandon one-party rule and embrace multiparty democracy. The first multiparty National Assembly elections took place on 13 January 1991. The ruling PAICV was soundly