SAO TOME, July 17 (Reuters) - The twin island archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe voted on Sunday for a new president who will have to find ways of boosting economic growth after the failure of the oil sector to produce major finds.
The election pits former president Manuel Pinto da Costa against parliament speaker Evaristo de Carvalho, opposition LSTP-PSD leader Aurelio Martinez and six others.
Here are some key facts about Sao Tome and Principe:
* ECONOMY:
* The Gulf of Guinea nation depends on its cocoa industry for the bulk of its revenues.
* Seismic data has suggested that up to 11 billion barrels of oil could lie off the Gulf of Guinea coast near Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
-- However big companies have backed off after a slew of dry wells around Sao Tome. The country's first oil block auction in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) late in 2010 drew bids from six companies, none from the list of majors.
-- The country shares oil zone interests with OPEC-member Nigeria and is encircled by smaller producers like Equatorial Guinea, Congo Republic, Gabon, Cameroon and the most recent member of the club of oil exporters -- Ghana.
-- In May, Sao Tome and Principe and fellow former Portuguese colony East Timor signed a three-year cooperation agreement focusing on oil and gas exploration between the two small island nations.
-- Sao Tome was 101 out of 178 countries list in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index.
SOME NUMBERS:
GDP (2010-PPP): ${esc.dollar}311 million.
Annual real GDP growth rate (2010 est) 4.5. percent.
Per capita GDP (2010): ${esc.dollar}1,800.
Inflation: (2010 est) 13 percent.
TRADE:
-- Exports (2010) -- ${esc.dollar}13 million: 80 percent cocoa, copra, palm kernels, coffee.
-- Major markets - Britain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium.
Imports (2010) -- ${esc.dollar}99 million: food, fuel, machinery and electrical equipment.
Major suppliers - Portugal (58.9 percent), Brazil, United States and Japan.
COUNTRY DETAILS:
POPULATION - 167,000 (2010).
RELIGION: At least 81 percent are Christian, mostly Roman Catholic with the rest mostly Protestant, predominantly Seventh Day Adventist and followers of an indigenous evangelical church.
ETHNICITY: Most are Africans of Bantu origin.
LANGUAGE - Portuguese is the official language. Forro and Crioulo (a dialect with Portuguese and African elements) are also spoken.
SOME HISTORY:
* The former Portuguese colony once grew rich as a staging point for the transatlantic slave trade.
* Early wealth came from sugar plantations worked by slaves, but very little sugar is produced now.
* In the years immediately following independence in 1975, Marxist economic policies dominated and Sao Tome forged close ties with the Eastern bloc and Communist China.
* In 1990, multiparty politics replaced the single party Marxist state and its first free elections were held in 1991.
* Soldiers took over for a week in 1995 to protest against poverty.
* Fradique de Menezes was elected president in 2001 and again in 2006, beating rival and prime minister, Patrice Trovoada, with 60 percent of the vote. De Menezes whose mandate ends in September 2011, is barred by law from seeking a third term. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
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