Preliminary results from the Sao Tome and Principe election commission showed incumbent Carlos Vila Nova winning Sunday's presidential election with more than 55 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff against challenger Nito Abreu who received more than 41 percent. Vila Nova, running as an independent after his 2021 victory backed by the Independent Democratic Action party, benefited from that party's majority in the National Assembly. The outcome occurred in a nation of roughly 240,000 people that has held multiparty elections since 1990 and experienced a thwarted coup attempt in 2022.