Voters in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau cast their ballots Sunday to pick a new president, hoping to turn the page on endemic political turmoil despite the main opposition party being barred from the race.
Around 860,000 voters were eligible to choose between 12 presidential candidates, with stability a major issue given multiple political crises that have rocked the west African nation since independence from Portugal in 1974, including four coups, and many more putsch attempts.
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At the top of the list of demands for many is improved living conditions, including better health care, education and infrastructure.
Guinea-Bissau’s population of some 2.2 million is also hoping for more jobs and reforms to combat poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.
Polling stations closed at 5:00 pm (1700 GMT) with no reports of major trouble. First results are expected no later than Thursday.
The National Election Commission has not provided any turnout estimates, though it did put out a statement welcoming the “peaceful” conduct of the vote across the country.
Voting appeared to be slow, with queues at polling booths mostly short, AFP reporters said.
“I am very happy to have done my civic duty,” said Danaya Diatta, 25, showing her index finger stained with indelible ink, proof that she voted. “This was important for me because I want a better future for my country,” the finance graduate added.
Guinea-Bissau is among the world’s poorest countries, with nearly 40 percent of the population living in extreme poverty.
It is also a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trade facilitated by the country’s long history of political instability.
Alamar Bidinthile, 40, said he was voting for “change” and “stability”.
Mayo Sa, a 53-year-old construction worker, added: “I have been voting since I was young but there has been no change in the country. I hope this time that won’t be the case”.
Incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, 53, is favoured to win in the first round. If he succeeds, he will become the first head of state to serve two consecutive terms since the introduction of the multiparty system in 1994.
“I call on the population to ensure a massive turnout,” Embalo said as he cast his vote Sunday.
His biggest opponent is Fernando Dias, who has received the support of the powerful PAIGC opposition party which was barred from the election.
The vote marks the first time in Guinea-Bissau’s history that PAIGC, which led the former Portuguese colony to independence in 1974 and was the country’s longstanding single party, will be absent from the ballot.
The party and its leader Domingos Simoes Pereira, who only recently returned from exile, were disqualified from running after the Supreme Court ruled their legislative and presidential applications had been submitted after the deadline.
– ‘Manipulation’ –
Pereira and Embalo are political arch-rivals: The last presidential election in 2019 was marked by a four-month post-election crisis as both men claimed victory.
Sunday’s elections will also see voters choose all 102 members of parliament.
In 2023, Embalo dissolved the legislature — which was dominated by the opposition — and has since ruled by decree.
The opposition says PAIGC’s exclusion from the presidential and parliamentary elections amounts to “manipulation” and maintains that Embalo’s term expired on February 27, five years to the day after his inauguration.
Despite the tumult, the three-week campaigning period unfolded with a festive atmosphere and concluded Friday without any major incidents or violence.
Lucia Bird, an expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, said that “in Guinea-Bissau, problems usually arise after elections”.
She said she fears that, as in 2019, allegations of irregularities will occur after the vote.
More than 6,780 security forces, including from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Stabilisation Force, have been deployed for the vote and the post-election period.
Guinea-Bissau’s air space, as well as land and sea borders, have been ordered closed all day Sunday.
AFP