Movement for Democracy

The MpD was established on 14 March 1990 by Carlos Veiga after Prime Minister Pedro Pires of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV, formerly the sole legal party) allowed its creation. The party was publicly launched in May 1990 and its first convention was held in November 1990.

In the January 1991 parliamentary elections, the first multi-party elections in the country's history, the MpD won 56 of the 79 seats in the National Assembly. In the presidential elections the following month, MpD candidate António Mascarenhas Monteiro defeated the incumbent PAICV President Aristides Pereira.

Following the MpD's second convention in January 1993, splits developed within the party, with two groups, List A and List B, emerging. A split in 1994 led to the creation of the Democratic Convergence Party. Despite losing six seats, the party retained its parliamentary majority in the 1995 elections, whilst Monteiro was re-elected unopposed in the presidential elections the following year.

The January 2001 parliamentary elections saw the party lose another 20 seats, as it was defeated by the PAICV. In the February 2001 presidential elections the MpD nominated Veiga, but he was defeated by the PAICV's Pires by just 12 votes in the second round of voting.

In the 2006 parliamentary elections party lost another seat and was reduced to 29 MPs. Veiga was again defeated by Pires in the presidential elections later in the year.

Despite gaining three seats in the 2011 parliamentary elections, the MpD remained in opposition. However, in the presidential elections in the same year, MpD candidate Jorge Carlos Fonseca defeated the PAICV's Manuel Inocêncio Sousa by 54–46%.

In July 2013, Ulisses Correia e Silva, the mayor of the capital, Praia, became party's new chairman, following Carlos Veiga, who stepped down after five years.

Fonseca was re-elected as president in the 2016 presidential election. The MpD also won a majority in the National Assembly during the 2016 parliamentary elections, ending fifteen years of PAICV majorities in that body and electing its leader Ulisses Correia e Silva as Prime Minister of Cape Verde.

The party is serving in the opposition since the 2026 election.

Although typically classified as center-right on the political spectrum, the MpD has been a diverse and ideologically diffuse party since its formation. Founded on a Christian Democratic platform, it also has economically liberal and social-liberal sectors. It considers itself a "centrist, civic, and humanist" party, centering its values ​​on the defense of a modern liberal democracy, and periodically holding internal party elections. Internationally, it is a member of the Centrist Democratic International and advocates a pro-EU position, in contrast to the Africanist stance of the PAICV.

MpD members are nicknamed "the fans," because of the party emblem resembling a fan, and primarily identify with the color green, although since the 2006 presidential campaign, the use of red has increased in party publications.

President: Carlos Veiga (14 March 1990 – 14 July 2013), Ulisses Correia e Silva (14 July 2013 – 22 May 2026), Eurico Monteiro (acting, 6 June 2026 – 14 September 2026), Paulo Veiga (since 14 September 2026)