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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Guinea-Bissau |
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Elections in Guinea-Bissau take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a semi-presidential system. Both the President and the National People's Assembly are directly elected by voters.
Although Portuguese colonies elected members to the National Assembly, it was not until the 1960s that an elected body was created to represent the territory of Portuguese Guinea. A 15-seat Legislative Council was created in 1963, although only a minority of members were elected by a franchise restricted by literacy and tax-paying requirements. [1]
Arguably the first elections to take place under universal suffrage were those organised by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), a pro-independence rebel group that occupied most of the territory by the early 1970s. [2] The PAIGC organised a series of elections to regional councils in the 11 regions that they controlled, whose members then elected a National Assembly. Although the vote was open to all residents over the age of 17, voters were presented with a single list of PAIGC candidates to approve or vote against. [3] The lists were approved by 97% of voters. [2]
In the same year the Legislative Council became the Legislative Assembly, with five of the 17 members to be elected directly. However, the restrictive franchise requirements and PAIGC occupation of much of the country meant that only 7,824 people were registered to vote. The election was held on a non-partisan basis. [4]
Following formal independence in 1974, parliamentary elections were held between December 1976 and January 1977. These were held using the same system as the 1972 elections, although voters in some parts of the country voted for unofficial candidates, [5] leading to the PAIGC's vote share dropping to 80%. Elections were held under the same format in 1984 and 1989, with the PAIGC lists being approved by 96% of voters in 1989.
Multi-party democracy was introduced in May 1991, and general elections were held after several delays in 1994. [6] The President was elected by public vote for the first time using a two-round system; João Bernardo Vieira of the PAIGC narrowly defeated Kumba Ialá of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS) by 52%–48% in the second round of voting. The PAIGC received 46% of the vote in the National People's Assembly elections, winning a majority of the seats.
Following a civil war that resulted in the overthrow of Vieira, general elections were held for a second time in late 1999, with a presidential runoff in January 2000. This time Ialá defeated the PAIGC candidate and acting President Malam Bacai Sanhá. The PRS emerged as the largest party in the National People's Assembly, but held only 38 of the 102 seats; the PAIGC finished third behind the Resistance of Guinea-Bissau-Bafatá Movement.
Ialá was overthrown in a coup in September 2003, and after several delays, parliamentary elections were held in March 2004. The PAIGC re-emerged as the largest party, but failed to win a majority of seats and formed a government together with the PRS. Presidential elections were held the following year, and although Malam Bacai Sanhá of the PAIGC received the most votes in the first round, he was defeated by the now-independent candidate João Bernardo Vieira in the second.
The next parliamentary elections were held in 2008 and resulted in a landslide victory for the PAIGC, which won 67 of the 100 seats. Vieira was assassinated in March 2009, and presidential elections resulted in a victory for Sanhá at the third attempt. Sanhá died in January 2012, and early elections were required to elect a successor. A first round was held in March, but the run-off between Carlos Gomes Júnior of the PAIGC and Ialá was cancelled after a military coup on 12 April.
A transition to civilian rule was completed in 2014 after general elections saw José Mário Vaz become President after defeating independent candidate Nuno Gomes Nabiam in the runoff, whilst the PAIGC retained its parliamentary majority, winning 57 of the 102 seats in the expanded National People's Assembly.
The President is elected using the two-round system.
The electoral system used between 1972 and 1989 involved voters electing regional councils, which in turn elected the members of the National People's Assembly. Voters were presented with a single list of PAIGC candidates to approve or vote against, although in some elections people voted for unofficial candidates. A voter turnout of at least 50% was required to validate the election in each sector. [5]
The country's current electoral law was passed on 15 May 1985. The National People's Assembly has 102 directly elected members; 100 are elected from 27 multi-member constituencies, with one single-member constituency representing citizens living abroad in Africa, and one for citizens living in Europe. Voters are required to be at least 18 years old and hold Guinea-Bissau citizenship, whilst candidates had to be at least 21. [7]
Guinea-Bissau was dominated by Portugal from the 1450s to the 1970s; since independence, the country has been primarily controlled by a single-party system.
The politics of Guinea-Bissau take place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system, wherein the President is head of state and the Prime Minister is head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National People's Assembly.
Kumba Ialá Embaló, also spelled Yalá, was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was president from 17 February 2000 until he was deposed in a bloodless military coup on 14 September 2003. He belonged to the Balanta ethnic group and was President of the Social Renewal Party (PRS). In 2008 he converted to Islam and took the name Mohamed Ialá Embaló. He was the founder of the Party for Social Renewal. In 2014, Ialá died from a cardiopulmonary arrest.
Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 10 May 2004 to 2 November 2005, and again from 25 December 2008 to 10 February 2012. He has been the President of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) since 2002 and is widely known as "Cadogo". He resigned as prime minister on 10 February 2012 to run in the presidential election triggered by President Malam Bacai Sanhá's death on 9 January.
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from Portugal, the party turned to armed conflict in the 1960s and was one of the belligerents in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. Towards the end of the war, the party established a Marxist–Leninist one-party state, which remained intact until multi-party democracy was introduced in the early 1990s. Although the party won the first multi-party elections in 1994, it was removed from power in the 1999–2000 elections. However, it returned to office after winning parliamentary elections in 2004 and presidential elections in 2005, since which it has remained the largest party in the National People's Assembly.
João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1984, for the second time from 1984 to 1999, and for the third time from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power in 1980, Vieira ruled for 19 years, and he won a multiparty presidential election in 1994. He was ousted at the end of the 1998–1999 civil war and went into exile. He made a political comeback in 2005, winning that year's presidential election. Vieira was killed by soldiers on 2 March 2009, apparently in retaliation for a bomb blast that killed Guinea-Bissau's military chief General Batista Tagme Na Waie. The military officially denied these allegations after Army officials claimed responsibility for Vieira's death.
The Guinea-Bissau Civil War was fought from 7 June 1998 to 10 May 1999 and was triggered by an attempted coup d'état against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira led by Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané. Government forces, backed by neighbouring states, clashed with the coup leaders who had quickly gained almost total control over the country's armed forces.
Presidential elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 19 June 2005, with a second round runoff on 24 July. The elections marked the end of a transition to democratic rule after the previously elected government was overthrown in a September 2003 military coup led by General Veríssimo Correia Seabra. The result was a victory for former President and independent candidate João Bernardo Vieira.
This name uses Portuguese naming customs. the first or maternal family name is Bacai and the second or paternal family name is Sanhá.
The Party for Social Renewal is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. It is one of the country's leading parties and is currently the main opposition party.
Ansumane Mané was a Bissau-Guinean soldier who led a 1998 uprising against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira, which caused a brief, but bloody civil war.
Manuel Saturnino da Costa is a Bissau-Guinean politician who served as Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 26 October 1994 to 6 June 1997.
Carlos Correia is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 17 September 2015 to 12 May 2016. Previously he was Prime Minister from 27 December 1991 to 26 October 1994, from 6 June 1997 to 3 December 1998, and from 5 August 2008 to 25 December 2008.
Aristides Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 8 November 2019 until 28 February 2020. He previously served as Prime Minister from April 2018 to October 2019, and again from 2 November 2005 to 13 April 2007. He has subsequently served as President of the Republican Party for Independence and Development (PRID).
This name uses Portuguese naming customs. the first or maternal family name is Ndafa and the second or paternal family name is Kabi.
Parliamentary elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 16 November 2008. The result was a victory for the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which won 67 out of the 100 seats in the National People's Assembly, while the Party for Social Renewal (PRS) won 28 seats.
Raimundo Pereira is a Bissau-Guinean lawyer and politician who was interim President of Guinea-Bissau from 3 March 2009 to 8 September 2009 and again in 2012, following the departure of President Malam Bacai Sanhá for medical treatment abroad; he continued in that capacity after Sanha's death. Pereira was elected as President of the National People's Assembly on 22 December 2008. Pereira is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He was ousted in a coup on 12 April 2012 and succeeded by Mamadu Ture Kuruma.
Presidential elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 28 June 2009 following the assassination of President João Bernardo Vieira on 2 March 2009. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a second round was held on 26 July 2009 between the two leading candidates, Malam Bacai Sanhá of the governing African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) and opposition leader Kumba Ialá. Sanhá won with a substantial majority in the second round, according to official results.
General elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 28 November 1999, with a second round for the presidential election on 16 January 2000. The presidential election resulted in a victory for opposition leader Kumba Ialá of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), who defeated Malam Bacai Sanhá of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. The PRS were also victorious in the National People's Assembly election, winning 38 of the 102 seats. This was the first time an opposition party won an election since the country's independence in the 1970s.
Francisca Maria Monteira e Silva Vaz Turpin, better known as Zinha Vaz, is a Bissau-Guinean women's rights activist and politician. She has been a member of the National People's Assembly for several terms for the Resistance of Guinea-Bissau-Bafatá Movement, as well as a presidential advisor. In 1999 she served for a brief time as mayor of the capital city Bissau. She was jailed for political reasons for three years during the 1970s and in 2003 again for several days. Recently she was ambassador to Gambia.
