Guinea-Bissau, beset by coups, votes in contentious presidential election

Guinea-Bissau has a number of voting locations, including one where President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is vying for a rare second term in office despite the opposition’s fierce opposition backlash, and where the government has been plagued by numerous coup attempts.

In a region where military rule has been undermined by military rulers who have taken control of the country by force over the past few years, hundreds of thousands are expected to cast ballots on Sunday.

A run-off election will be held unless the winner receives more than 50% of the votes. The 2.2 million people who live in the country are registered to vote.

The president and Fernando Dias da Costa, a less well-known 47-year-old man who is supported by former prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, are the two candidates who are in the running for president, according to sources.

The leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in the 2019 presidential election, Pereira, is the leader of the opposition, but the politician and the opposition party are prohibited from participating in Sunday’s election.

Embalo, a 53-year-old former army general, has been in office since February 2020. Between November 2016 and January 2018, he served as prime minister.

The barred opposition claims Embalo’s term should have come to an end earlier this year and that its terms should have been extended until early September. The election was postponed until November.

Embalo dissolved the parliament, which had been largely ruled by opposition candidates in 2019 and 2023 legislative elections, and has not allowed it to convene since December 2023.

He has also promised to improve the infrastructure of the tiny nation and, among other things, modernize its main airport.

The World Bank claims that Guinea-Bissau’s half-population is still considered poor, making it one of the impoverished nations in the world.

Since gaining its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago, the nation has gone through numerous coups and attempted coups.