Voters in Sao Tome and Principe will elect a new president on Sunday, ahead of parliamentary elections at the end of September. For the island nation of just 245,000 people, the elections are a major domestic political event. They are also attracting growing international attention.
Since signing a military cooperation agreement with Russia in April 2024, the archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea has attracted renewed geopolitical interest.
The key question is whether Russia is seeking to expand its influence in the South Atlantic through the archipelago — or whether the military agreement is largely symbolic, with Sao Tome and Principe merely continuing its long-standing foreign policy of maintaining ties with a wide range of international partners.
Sao Tome and Principe: More strategic than its size suggests
The former Portuguese colony off the coast of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea marked the 51st anniversary of its independence on July 12. Although Sao Tome and Principe is one of Africa's smallest countries by both area and population, its location gives it strategic significance far beyond its size.
