This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Guinea-Bissau |
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General elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 3 July 1994, with a second round for the presidential election on 7 August. They were the first multi-party elections since independence, and also the first time the president had been directly elected, as previously the post had been elected by the National People's Assembly. In the presidential election, the result was a victory for incumbent João Bernardo Vieira of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), who defeated Kumba Ialá of Social Renewal Party in the second round. In the Assembly election, 1,136 candidates ran for the 100 seats, of which the PAIGC won 62. [1]
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 1,815,698.
João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira 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 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.
Voter turnout in the presidential election was 89.3% on 3 July and 81.6% on 7 August. [2] In the parliamentary election it was 88.9%. [3]
Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
João Bernardo Vieira | African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde | 142,577 | 46.20 | 161,083 | 52.02 |
Kumba Ialá | Party for Social Renewal | 67,518 | 21.88 | 148,664 | 47.98 |
Domingos Fernandes | Resistance of Guinea-Bissau-Bafatá Movement | 53,825 | 17.44 | ||
Carlos Gomes | Independent* | 15,645 | 5.07 | ||
François Mendy | Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea | 8,655 | 2.80 | ||
Bubacar Rachid Djaló | Union for Change | 8,506 | 2.76 | ||
Victor Saúde Maria | United Social Democratic Party | 6,388 | 2.07 | ||
Antonieta Rosa Gomes | Guinean Civic Forum-Social Democracy | 5,509 | 1.79 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 49,059 | – | 16,868 | – | |
Total | 357,682 | 100 | 326,615 | 100 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 400,417 | 89.33 | 400,417 | 81.57 | |
Source: Nohlen et al. |
* Gomes was supported by the Democratic Convergence Party, as its leader Victor Mandinga was not eligible to run for president, as he failed to meet the qualification that both parents be Guineans born in the country.
The Democratic Convergence Party is a political party in Guinea-Bissau.
Party | Votes | % | Seats |
---|---|---|---|
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde | 134,982 | 46.4 | 62 |
Resistance of Guinea-Bissau-Bafatá Movement | 57,566 | 19.8 | 19 |
Union for Change | 36,797 | 12.6 | 6 |
Party for Social Renewal | 29,957 | 10.3 | 12 |
Democratic Convergence Party | 15,411 | 5.3 | 0 |
United Social Democratic Party | 8,286 | 2.8 | 0 |
Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea | 7,475 | 2.6 | 1 |
Guinean Civic Forum | 494 | 0.2 | 0 |
Invalid/blank votes | 65,024 | – | – |
Total | 355,992 | 100 | 100 |
Registered voters/turnout | 400,417 | 88.91 | – |
Source: Nohlen et al. |
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.
Politics of Guinea-Bissau takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic in transition, whereby the President is head of state and the Prime Minister is head of government, and of a multi-party system. 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 Guinea-Bissauan 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 of Independence of Cape Verde is a former socialist party and currently a social-democratic political party in Cape Verde. Its members are nicknamed "os tambarinas" in Portuguese, and they identify themselves with the color yellow.
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.
The Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea was a political movement in Guinea-Bissau. Founded by groups opposed to the Marxist doctrine of Amílcar Cabral and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), FLING played a minor role in the national liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial rule.
This name uses Portuguese naming customs. the first or maternal family name is Bacai and the second or paternal family name is Sanhá.
The United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Guinea-Bissau.
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.
Carlos Correia is a Guinea-Bissau 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 the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, appointed in April 2018, and also previously served as Prime Minister from 2 November 2005 to 13 April 2007. He has subsequently served as President of the Republican Party for Independence and Development (PRID).
The unicameral National Assembly is the legislative body of the Republic of Cape Verde.
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.
Cipriano Cassamá is a politician in Guinea-Bissau and a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He was Minister of the Interior from August 2008 to January 2009.
Raimundo Pereira is a Guinea-Bissauan 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.
Indirect parliamentary elections were held in Guinea-Bissau between 19 December 1976 and mid-January 1977, the first since independence from Portugal. At the time, the country was a one-party state with the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) as the sole legal party. A single, official list of PAIGC candidates was presented to voters, although in some areas people voted for unofficial candidates, who achieved almost 20% of the national vote. The Assembly elected Luís Cabral to the post of President on 13 March 1977.