Cape Verde voters head to polls

PRAIA, Cape Verde, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Cape Verde President Pedro Pires and his long-time rival, former President Carlos Veiga, are the frontrunners in Sunday's presidential election.

Pires beat Veiga by just 17 votes in the 2001 poll, the BBC reported.

The two candidates have pledged to promote faster economic growth and tackle the West African archipelago's high crime rate.

Pires' ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde won January's parliamentary elections with 52 percent of the vote.

The PAICV first came to power upon independence from Portugal in 1975. Pires was Cape Verde's first prime minister. Veiga's Movement for Democracy won the first multi-party elections in 1990.