Despite the democratic, constitutional framework, the military has exercised substantial power, and has interfered repeatedly in civilian leadership since multi-party elections were instituted in 1994. In the past 16 years, Guinea-Bissau has experienced two coups, a civil war, an attempted coup, and a presidential assassination by the military. Since the country's independence in 1974, only one president successfully completed his five-year term, José Mário Vaz.[1]
In 1989, the ruling African Independence Party of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), under the direction of President João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, began to outline a political liberalization program which the People's National Assembly approved in 1991. Reforms that paved the way for multi-party democracy included the repeal of articles of the constitution, which had enshrined the leading role of the PAIGC. Laws were ratified to allow the formation of other political parties, a free press, and independent trade unions with the right to strike.
Former president Viera was once again elected as president in July 2005. The government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior was elected in March 2004 in a free and fair election, but was replaced by the government of Prime Minister Aristides Gomes, which took office in November 2005. Gomes lost a no-confidence vote and submitted his resignation in March 2007.
Martinho Ndafa Kabi was then nominated as prime minister by a coalition composed of the PAIGC, the Social Renewal Party (PRS), and the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD). On April 9, 2007, it was announced that President João Bernardo Vieira had rejected the choice of Kabi, but the coalition said that they maintained him as their choice. Later that day, Vieira appointed Kabi as the new prime minister. Kabi took office on April 13, and his government, composed of 20 ministers (including eight from the PAIGC, eight from the PRS, and two from the PUSD) was named on April 17.
2009 assassination
President Viera was killed on March 2, 2009, by soldiers as retaliation for the killing of the head of the joint chiefs of staff, General Tagme Na Waie, who was murdered the previous day.
Prior to the 2008 election, a decision to change the electoral date and extend the parliamentary mandate resulted in major controversy when Assembly deputies snubbed the president and chose to extend their mandate. After the Supreme Court annulled that law, President Vieira dissolved the Assembly, thus allowing the standing committee to continue working, and appointed a new government composed of loyalists.
Rear AdmiralBubo Na Tchuto tried to organize a coup on August 7, 2008, but the attempt was put down. Na Tchuto managed to escape the country. The attempted coup added to instability ahead of parliamentary elections. Gambia subsequently arrested Na Tchuto.[2] He later returned to Guinea-Bissau disguised as a fisherman, and took refuge at a UN compound. Although the UN agreed to surrender him to the government, Na Tchuto continued to reside in the compound. As a result of his return, security in the country was tightened, contributing to uncertainty and instability.
On April 1, 2010, soldiers entered UN offices and arrested Na Tchuto. The same day, more soldiers entered Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior's residence and detained him on the premises. Simultaneously, forty military officers, including Zamora Induta, head of Guinea-Bissau's armed forces, were confined at an army base. Hundreds of the PM's supporters demanded his release. In response, the deputy army chief, Antonio Indjai, said: "If the people continue to go out into the streets to show their support for Carlos Gomes Junior, then I will kill Carlos Gomes Junior ... or I will send someone to kill him."[3][4]
The following day, the prime minister was taken to meet with the president where the president said: "I will not resign because I was democratically elected. I consider what happened on Thursday as an incident. The situation is now stable. I can assure you that institutions will return to their normal functions." The UN secretary general and other international powers condemned the move, while government ministers issued a statement saying "Members of government expressed their support and their attachment to the prime minister, and firmly condemned the use of force as a means to resolve problems." Tensions seemingly calmed, with President Sanha saying the coup attempt was "a confusion between soldiers that reached the government", and the UN Secretary General spoke about the PM's "detention and subsequent release."[5] Nevertheless, while members of the cabinet and the international community condemned the attempted coup and talked about the PM's release, reports still indicated that "renegade soldiers" had the prime minister "under guard."[6]
After Army chief of staff General Antonio Indjai was reported arrested by the orders of navy chief Rear Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto,[7] his troops freed him as Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior sought political asylum at the Angolan embassy. Indjai then said that his naval counterpart had been arrested. These events occurred while President Sanha had been in Paris, France for medical care.[8][9][10]
On 12 April 2012, the military took over the central district of the capital.[11] On 16 April, military leaders and a coalition of political parties announced the formation of a Transitional National Council,[12] under international pressure.
Presidential elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 24 November 2019.
In the first round of voting, Domingos Simões Pereira led the field, with 40.13% of the vote. Incumbent president José Mário Vaz finished fourth in the first round of voting, failing to progress to the runoff.[13] According to the preliminary and final results published by the national commission of elections, Umaro Sissoco Embaló won the runoff vote against Simões Pereira, 54% to 46%. Simões Pereira continues to dispute the results.[14] Although neither the supreme court of Guinea-Bissau nor the parliament had given its approval for the official swearing-in ceremony, Sissoco Embaló had organized an alternative swearing-in ceremony in a hotel in Bissau to announce himself as legal president of Guinea-Bissau.[15] Several politicians in Guinea-Bissau, including prime minister Aristides Gomes, accused Sissoco Embaló of arranging a coup d'état, although outgoing president Mário Vaz stepped down to allow Embaló to take power.[16]
José Mário Vaz was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 2014 until the 2019 presidential elections. For two decades José Mário Vaz was the first elected president who finished his five-year mandate. Umaro Sissoco Embaló was the winner of the election and he took office in February 2020. However he faced a last-minute stand-off with parliament before taking office. Embaló is the first president to be elected without the backing of the PAIGC.[17][18] On 11 September 2024, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló announced that he would not seek a second term in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for November 2025.[19]
The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The prime minister is appointed by the president after consultation with party leaders in the legislature.
In the first round of voting Domingos Simões Pereira led the field, with 40.13% of the vote. Incumbent president José Mário Vaz finished fourth in the first round of voting, failing to progress to the runoff.[20] According to the preliminary and final results published by the national commission of elections, Umaro Sissoco Embaló won the runoff vote against Simões Pereira, 54% to 46%.
The Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal da Justiça) consists of nine justices, who are appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure. It is the final court of appeals in criminal and civil cases. Regional courts, one in each of the country's nine regions, are the first courts of appeal for sectoral court decisions, and hear all felony cases, as well as civil cases concerning more than $1,000. Below these are 24 sectoral Courts, presided over by judges who are not necessarily trained in the law, which hear civil cases under $1,000 and misdemeanor criminal cases.
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.
Soares Sambú is a Bissau-Guinean engineer and politician who was deputy of the National People's Assembly and minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, an agency that accumulates the functions of deputy head of government.
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 socialist 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 served as President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999, except for a three-day period in May 1984, and from 2005 until his assassination in 2009.
Carlos Correia was 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).
Martinho Ndafa Kabi is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the prime minister of Guinea-Bissau from 13 April 2007 to 5 August 2008. He is a leading member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
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.
Rui Duarte de Barros is a Bissau-Guinean economist and politician who has served as the prime minister of Guinea-Bissau since 20 December 2023. His previous positions include being the Minister of Economy and Finance, as well as being the Transitional Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 16 May 2012 to 3 July 2014 following a military coup.
Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló is a Bissau-Guinean politician serving as the president of Guinea-Bissau since February 2020. He is a political scientist and military officer who previously served as prime minister between November 2016 and January 2018.
Augusto António Artur da Silva is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, appointed by President José Mário Vaz January 30, 2018 to April 16, 2018, to succeed Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who had resigned two weeks earlier.
Parliamentary elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 10 March 2019. They were originally scheduled for 18 November 2018 following an ECOWAS brokered agreement between President José Mário Vaz and the opposition in April 2018, but the electoral census was not completed until 20 November, and Prime Minister Aristides Gomes subsequently proposed 16 December, 30 December, or 27 January 2019 as possible alternative dates. The election date was settled following a presidential decree issued in December 2018.
Madem-G15, officially the Movement for Democratic Alternation, Group of 15, is a political party in Guinea-Bissau founded by former members of PAIGC in 2018, named for the 15 members who left the PAIGC. Notably, it won 27, the second most seats, of 102 seats in the 2019 legislative election of Guinea-Bissau in its first election showing. On 28 February 2020, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, a member of Madem-G15, took office as President of Guinea-Bissau in a contested election. The party supports former President José Mário Vaz in his dispute with reformist Domingos Simões Pereira.
Presidential elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 24 November 2019. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 29 December. Incumbent president José Mário Vaz finished fourth in the first round of voting, failing to progress to the runoff. Umaro Sissoco Embaló won the second round with 54% of the vote, becoming the first president to be elected without the backing of the PAIGC.
Events in the year 2020 in Guinea-Bissau.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 4 June 2023. Incumbent president Umaro Sissoco Embalo dissolved the parliament on 16 May 2022, accusing deputies of corruption and "unresolvable" differences between the National People's Assembly and other government branches.
Events in the year 2023 in Guinea-Bissau.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Guinea-Bissau in December 2024. Incumbent president Umaro Sissoco Embaló is eligible for a second term.
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