Leadership Chaos Strikes Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) confirmed December’s election results but continues to face claims of fraud. (Wikimedia Commons)
In the aftermath of disputed presidential elections, Guinea-Bissau briefly had two presidents at once at the end of February, with two more men claiming to be the lawful prime minister. The country’s opposing political parties continue to debate the legitimacy of the country’s December 29 run-off election. Meanwhile, the international community urges a peaceful transition in a country that has seen nine coups or attempted coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974.
Guinea-Bissau’s current political crisis began on January 1 when the National Electoral Commission (CNE) declared ex-Prime Minister General Umaro Sissoco Embalo the winner of the December run-off election for president. CNE announced that Embalo had won 53.55 percent of the vote while the runner-up, Domingo Simoes Pereira, received 46.45 percent. Pereira, the candidate of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Guinea-Bissau’s current ruling party, immediately claimed that there were irregularities in the election and challenged the results at the Supreme court.
Pereira had won the first round of the presidential election in November with 40.1 percent, while Embalo received 27.7 percent. According to Pereira, the run-off election had higher voter turnout than there were registered voters at certain polling stations. On January 3, Pereira said, “There has been an infringement of the electoral truth and the most legitimate rights of the people of Guinea Bissau.”
Yet, shortly after the Supreme Court called for a clarification of the final results, the electoral commission confirmed their initial findings. The PAIGC criticized the commission for allegedly not conducting a full audit of the vote and filed another complaint with the Supreme Court on February 26 regarding the vote.
Meanwhile, Embalo, who has been repeatedly named the winner of the election, was sworn in as president at a ceremony held at a luxury hotel in Bissau, the country’s capital, on February 27. The outgoing president, Jose Mario Vaz, supported Embalo in the run-off after losing during the first-round himself and handed off power to Embalo at the ceremony. Pereira was quick to discredit the inauguration, saying that it is invalid until the Supreme Court makes its final decision.
Separately, the PAIGC used its majority in Parliament to elect parliamentary speaker Cipriano Cassamá on February 28 to serve as the interim president during the ongoing crisis. However, just a day after his appointment, Cassamá declared his resignation, citing worries over his and his family’s safety. “I have no security… My life is in danger, the life of my family is in danger, the life of this people is in danger. [...] I decided to take this decision to avoid confrontation between the forces on the other side and the forces that guard me, and also to avoid a… civil war,” he said.
To confuse matters further, the country also now has two men claiming to be the lawful prime minister. Parliament had previously appointed PAIGC party member Aristides Gomes. However, after his swearing in, Embalo dismissed Gomes and appointed Nuno Gomes Nabian to the role. Gomes said military officers invaded his private home on March 1 to try to force him to resign. He has refused to recognize Embalo’s decree as valid.
Vaz cycled through seven different prime ministers during his five-year rule. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has “firmly condemned... the successive investiture of two heads of state outside of legal and constitutional frameworks and the co-existence of two prime ministers” and has urged the military to remain politically neutral.
While many in Guinea-Bissau and the international community hoped that last year’s election would bring much-needed stability to the country, many worry the opposite is now happening. Rosine Sori-Coulibaly, the UN special representative in Guinea-Bissau, recently said, “The legal process over the electoral outcome has yet to be resolved, in order for the first-ever peaceful transfer of power to a democratically elected Head of State in the country. However, given the deep mistrust between the two political camps, divisions in the Executive branch, and shifting political alliances in Parliament, the swearing in of the future President will unlikely bring about stability.”