More than 966 thousand voters are called to the polls today to choose the new President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau and the 102 deputies of the National Popular Assembly.
This Sunday’s elections are the fourth general held in the African country and the first in which the historic PAIGC party is left out of the electoral race, in a process marked by the exclusion, by the Supreme Court of Justice, of the main opponents.
O President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embalóis running for a second term and is one of 12 presidential candidates, in which independent Fernando Dias stood out in the electoral campaign after receiving the support of PAIGC and leader Domingos Simões Pereira, also excluded by the Supreme Court and until then considered Embaló’s main opponent.
The race for the Presidency of the Republic has centralized the electoral campaign, leaving to the background the legislative ones that will dictate the composition of the parliament that closed two years ago, since the President dissolved the PAI-Terra Ranka majority, led by PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde).
None of the previous party forces are competing in this Sunday’s legislative elections, which have 14 candidacies and a new coalitionthe Republican Platform that brings together 16 parties in support of Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s second term.
These elections will dictate the continuity of Embaló or the change of regime, with several international organizations and analysts warning of the risks of new post-election crisis in Guinea-Bissau.
The international community, such as the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), is on the ground doing observation of the electoral process in Guinea-Bissau.
These elections are taking place without the presence of Portuguese journalists, after the Guinean Government expelled, in August, the delegations from Lusa, RTP and RDP.
The dissolution of parliament led to this Sunday’s early legislative elections, which take place simultaneously with the presidential elections, after the controversy surrounding the end of the President’s term, which for the opposition ended in February this year and for the head of state in September.
For these elections are registered 966,152 votersa number greater than 42 thousand compared to the 2023 legislative elections.
On the call Europe circlewhich encompasses some countries on this continent, including Portugal, 26,420 voters will be able to vote, of which 13,764 are in Portuguese territory, while 25,304 Guinean citizens are registered in the Africa circle.
Voting in Guinean territory, in Africa (Cape Verde, Guinea-Conakry, Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal) and in Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, England, Germany and Benelux) it will take place in 3,728 polling stations, representing 2,118 electoral districts.
According to Guinea-Bissau’s electoral legislation, polling stations open at 7:00 am, the same time in Lisbon, and close at 5:00 pm, with the process of counting the voting results on site immediately beginning.