The West African nation is about to carry legislative and presidential elections on December 6.
Printed On 22 Jan 2026
Guinea-Bissau’s army authorities has set a date for brand spanking new elections following the ousting of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in a coup late final yr, in keeping with a press release by the military chief.
“All of the circumstances for organising free, truthful and clear elections have been met,” stated a decree learn on Wednesday by Main-Common Horta Inta-a.
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Legislative and presidential elections will probably be held on December 6, the assertion added.
A coup in November eliminated Embalo and inaugurated former military chief of workers Inta-a as the pinnacle of the army authorities, tasked with overseeing a one-year transition interval.
A transitional constitution revealed in early December bars Inta-a – a detailed Embalo affiliate – from working for election.
The army claimed that it seized energy as Embalo was searching for a second time period in a presidential election to “keep away from a massacre between supporters of the rival candidates”.
Guinea-Bissau, one of many world’s poorest nations, has been dogged by coups and tried coups since its independence from Portugal greater than 50 years in the past, together with a coup try final October.
The nation of two.2 million individuals is called a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a development that consultants say has fuelled its political crises.
The election announcement comes weeks after a visit to Guinea-Bissau by an Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) mission, led by Sierra Leonean President and ECOWAS chair Julius Maada Bio and his Senegalese counterpart Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The 2 leaders held talks with the army leaders and have known as for a brief, structured and clear transition.
They’ve additionally demanded the discharge of political opponents, together with opposition chief Domingos Simoes Pereira, who have been imprisoned on the day of the coup.
West Africa has seen a wave of coups since 2020, usually with the said objective of defending the nation in opposition to insurgencies or fixing dangerous governance.
Navy leaders in close by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso additionally took energy by drive on pledges of offering extra safety to residents in opposition to extremist armed teams. In neighbouring Guinea, Common Mamady Doumbouya overthrew the president in 2021 on a promise to rid the nation of corruption.
