 pedro verona rodrigues pires (; born 29 april 1934) was the president of cape verde from march 2001 to september 2011. before becoming president, he was prime minister from 1975 to 1991. ==life and career== pires was born in fogo, cape verde. after the ruling african party for the independence of cape verde (paicv) decided to institute multiparty democracy in february 1990, pires replaced president aristides pereira as general secretary of paicv in august 1990. the paicv lost the multiparty parliamentary and presidential elections held in early 1991 and was left in opposition. at a party congress in august 1993, pires was replaced as general secretary by aristides lima and was instead elected as president of paicv.political parties of the world (6th edition, 2005), ed. bogdan szajkowski, page 113. as a candidate for the party presidency at paicv's september 1997 congress, he faced josÃ© maria neves"cape verde: opposition party congress opens", radio renascenca, lisbon (nl.newsbank.com), september 19, 1997. and prevailed with 68% of the vote."cape verde: former pm elected leader of main opposition paicv party", radio renascenca, lisbon (nl.newsbank.com), september 22, 1997. he stepped down as paicv president in 2000 in preparation for a presidential bid in the next year's election"cape verde: town council leader to run for paigc party leadership", rdp africa web site (nl.newsbank.com), may 29, 2000. and he was succeeded by neves. he officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of cape verde on september 5, 2000."cape verde: former prime minister pires to run for president in 2001 poll", rdp africa web site (nl.newsbank.com), september 6, 2000. pires was the paicv candidate in the february 2001 presidential election, defeating former prime mi
1934_births African_Party_for_the_Independence_of_Cape_Verde_politicians Living_people Presidents_of_Cape_Verde University_of_Lisbon_alumni