CAPE Verde’s opposition African Independence Party (PAICV) claimed victory at Sunday’s general election, but the early official results showed a race too close to call after a day marked mainly by chaos. “According to the data we have received, we are already certain of victory,” PAICV campaign director Adao Richa said. With the vote count announced from 297 of the 1 039 polling stations, the former ruling party PAICV had won 45.97% of the vote against 43.77% for the ruling Movement for Democracy (MPD). An official at electoral services office said these figures were “very partial and not very significant”. Claims of malpractice at the polling stations were rife. Some voters in the small Atlantic Ocean archipelago said names had “disappeared” from electoral rolls since the last elections, while others said people had been unable to vote because they failed to show voter cards, passports or identity cards. At some polling stations, people were allowed to vote without any of these documents. Sunday’s exercise was the third multi-party vote to be held in Cape Verde, a small, impoverished archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, some 445km west of Senegal. – AFP