The opposition Liberation Movement (MLSTP) took 24 of 55 seats in Sunday's parliamentary election in São Tomé and Príncipe (a small island nation off Central Africa's west coast), the electoral commission said, short of the 28 needed to govern alone. President Carlos Vila Nova's Independent Democratic Action party was close behind with about 23 seats, leaving the smaller MCI-PS/PUN, with six seats, as a potential kingmaker. Coalition talks now begin, and the next government will have to tackle unemployment, emigration and shortfalls in water, electricity and public services.