Guinea-Bissau to delay December elections after last year's coup
Prime Minister Ilídio Vieira Té has said Guinea-Bissau's presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 6 will have to be delayed, with political parties unready and candidate bids missing the October 6 deadline; no new date was set.
Guinea-Bissau’s presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for December 6, will have to be delayed, Prime Minister Ilídio Vieira Té told reporters on Thursday, though he set no new date. The poll was meant to restore civilian rule after last year’s military coup.
Té said parties had not held congresses to choose leaders, and candidates had missed the October 6 deadline to file bids with the Supreme Court. There are, he said, “no conditions for holding the elections scheduled for December 6”, according to Reuters.
The electoral commission told junta leader General Horta N’Tam the same, its vice-president Felisberta Moura Vaz said: the “conditions necessary to organise elections by December 6” will not be met, as AFP reported. Té added that “the conditions for holding credible elections do not exist” and that “no political party is yet in an ideal position” to contest the elections. Vaz declined to declare a postponement, saying that fell to the transitional president.
The army seized power last November days after a presidential vote, overthrowing then-president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and suspending the electoral process before setting December 6 for new elections. Last week the government blocked Embalo, who told AFP he would return from exile in Morocco to stand, from returning, citing unmet security conditions.
An August referendum approved a new constitution expanding presidential powers; the opposition urged a boycott. Activists cite the unsolved murder of rapper Vigario Luis Balanta as proof dissent is being crushed; the government denies a role and says it is investigating.
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