Guinea-Bissau sets election date following last year’s coup

The West African country is set to hold legislative and presidential elections on December 6.

Guinea-Bissau’s military government has set a date for new elections following the ousting of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in a coup late last year, according to a statement by the army leader.

“All the conditions for organising free, fair and transparent elections have been met,” said a decree read on Wednesday by Major-General Horta Inta-a.

Legislative and presidential elections will be held on December 6, the statement added.

A coup in November removed Embalo and inaugurated former army chief of staff Inta-a as the head of the military government, tasked with overseeing a one-year transition period.

A transitional charter published in early December bars Inta-a – a close Embalo associate –  from running for election.

The military claimed that it seized power as Embalo was seeking a second term in a presidential election to “avoid a bloodbath between supporters of the rival candidates”.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been dogged by coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago, including a coup attempt last October.

The country of 2.2 million people is known as a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trend that experts say has fuelled its political crises.

The election announcement comes weeks after a visit to Guinea-Bissau by an Economic Community 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 two leaders held talks with the military leaders and have called for a short, structured and transparent transition.

They have also demanded the release of political opponents, including opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira, who were imprisoned on the day of the coup.

West Africa has seen a wave of coups since 2020, typically with the stated purpose of protecting the country against insurgencies or fixing bad governance.

Military leaders in nearby Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso also took power by force on pledges of providing more security to citizens against extremist armed groups. In neighbouring Guinea, General Mamady Doumbouya overthrew the president in 2021 on a promise to rid the country of corruption.