860,000 to vote as Guinea-Bissau chooses new president

Guinea-Bissau will elect its next president on Sunday, seeking to turn the page on a tumultuous history of coups and unrest with a poll that nonetheless lacks the country’s main opposition. Some 860,000 voters will choose between 12 candidates, including incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is the favourite to land a second five-year term. […]

Guinea-Bissau will elect its next president on Sunday, seeking to turn the page on a tumultuous history of coups and unrest with a poll that nonetheless lacks the country’s main opposition.

Some 860,000 voters will choose between 12 candidates, including incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is the favourite to land a second five-year term.

Voters in the West African nation will also elect 102 members of parliament, which has remained dissolved by Embalo since December 2023.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 40 per cent of its population living in extreme poverty.

Its recent history is marked by political crises, including four coups, a string of attempted coups and government collapses.

“Our parents fought to liberate this country, but the heirs have destroyed everything for personal gain,” Djibril Sanha, a 30-year-old teacher, told AFP in Bissau.

“We don’t want to hear about violence or coups anymore. Enough is enough,” one of the prospective voters said.

This marks the first time in Guinea-Bissau’s history that the PAIGC party, which led the former Portuguese colony to independence in 1974, will be absent from the ballot.

The PAIGC and its candidate, Domingos Simoes Pereira, who also leads the Pai Terra Ranka coalition of parties, were disqualified by the Supreme Court.

While stability is the main issue, many of Guinea-Bissau’s 2.2 million citizens also want the next president to deliver better health care, education and infrastructure. They are also demanding jobs and reforms to address poverty, corruption, drug trafficking and other problems.