Guinea-Bissau presidential candidates commit to peaceful election
Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (PANA) - The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Guinea-Bissau, headed by Ambassador Baba Kamara, on Friday met with candidates for the 23 November presidential election.
They included incumbent President Umaro Sissoko Embalo and representatives of opposition candidate, Fernando Dias, who pledged to support a peaceful electoral process, a press release by ECOWAS said on Saturday.
It said during at the State House, President Embalo, who is seeking re-election for a second term, promised to respect the outcome of the polls.
Geraldo Martins, a representative of candidate Dias, who is supported by a faction of the Party for Social Renewal, PRS, made a similar commitment during a separate meeting with the ECOWAS Observation Mission.
Ambassador Kamara said the deployment of the election observers was in line with ECOWAS’ strong determination and commitment to accompany the people of Guinea-Bissau on the path to good governance, national progress and development.
This is the first time that the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, PAIGC, which fought for Guinea-Bissau’s independence in 1973, will not field candidates in the country’s election.
After its exclusion from the parliamentary and presidential races by the Supreme Court, acting as the Constitutional Court, the PAI-Terra Ranka Coalition, which includes the PAIGC, and which won an absolute majority of 54 out of 102 seats in the 2023 Parliamentary elections, urged its supporters to vote for Dias in Sunday’s presidential contest.
Former President José Mário Vaz, supported by Coalition COLIDE-GB, is also a candidate in the presidential race, involving 12 candidates.
Ambassador Kamara appealed to all candidates in the legislative and presidential elections, and their supporters, to demonstrate a high level of patriotism, political tolerance, and to eschew violence. They should also work with their compatriots to consolidate democracy in the country and the region.
Ambassador Kamara has also urged ECOWAS election Observers to discharge their mandate with integrity and without bias.
ECOWAS has deployed 15 Medium- and 120 Short-Term Observers to Guinea-Bissau’s eight regions, subdivided into 37 Sectors, including Bissau, the nation’s capital.
It also has a peace Stabilisation Support Mission in Guinea-Bissau, ESSMG.
The 966,152 voters registered by the National Electoral Commission, CNE, from an estimated population of 2.2 million will cast their ballots in 3,728 polling stations nationwide and in the Diaspora.
Security agents and individuals who will be on election duty cast their ballots on 20 November, while campaigns ended at midnight on 21 November, even as the country battles the challenges of political fragility, from perennial disputes over the roles of the President, Prime Minister and the suspended Parliament under a semi-presidential system.
The CNE has between seven and ten days to declare the final official results of the vote. A candidate requires 50%+1 vote to win; otherwise, the two front-runners will square up in a run-off election after three weeks of the first round of balloting.
ECOWAS is expected to issue its Preliminary Declaration on the conduct of the election after two days, to be followed by a more comprehensive Final Report with recommendations for improvement of future elections.
-0- PANA MA 22Nov2025
