Sao Tome and Principe’s former infrastructure minister, Carlos Vila Nova, has won the country’s presidential election runoff, beating the ruling party’s candidate in the delayed election, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission.

Vila Nova won the vote with 57.3% while his rival, former prime minister Guilherme Posser da Costa, who was backed by a coalition of the ruling party, received 42.46% of the vote, Sao Tome Press Agency and the national radio reported.

Vila Nova, 65, will succeeded 79-year-old Evaristo Carvalho, who did not seek a second five-year term in the largely ceremonial post.

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