Voting closes in Sao Tome presidential runoff

FILE PHOTO: Evaristo Carvalho, President of Sao Tome and Principe addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Polls closed on Sunday in a presidential run-off in Sao Tome and Principe between the archipelago's former infrastructure minister Carlos Vila Nova, who won the first round in July, and former prime minister Guilherme Posser da Costa.

Seen as a model of parliamentary democracy off the coast of Central Africa, Sao Tome is a focus of interest by the oil industry, with several firms exploring in the hope of finding significant reserves.