Guinea-Bissau, beset by coups, votes in contentious presidential election | Elections News | USAEMALL.com

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo wants a second term and is challenged by a relatively unknown candidate who is backed by a former prime minister.

Voting stations are open in Guinea-Bissau, where the government has been afflicted by repeated coup attempts and where President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is seeking a rare second term in office amid fierce backlash from the opposition.

Hundreds of thousands are expected to vote on Sunday as the West African country faces a challenging election in a region where civilian administration has been undermined by military rulers who have taken power by force over the past several years.

The winner needs more than 50 percent of the votes, or there will be a run-off election. Nearly half of the country’s 2.2 million residents are registered to vote.

There are 12 candidates, but the main race is believed to be between the president and Fernando Dias da Costa, a little-known 47-year-old who is backed by former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira.

Pereira, the runner-up in the 2019 presidential election, leads the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, but the politician and the top opposition party have been banned from taking part in Sunday’s election.

Embalo, 53, is a former army general who has served as president since February 2020. He was also the prime minister between November 2016 and January 2018.

The barred opposition maintains that Embalo’s term should have ended earlier this year, and the Supreme Court previously ruled that it should run until early September. The election was delayed until November.

Embalo dissolved the parliament, which was dominated by opposition figures in legislative elections held in 2019 and 2023, and has not allowed it to convene since December 2023.

He has promised to develop the small country’s infrastructure and modernise its main airport, among other things.

But Guinea-Bissau remains one of the world’s impoverished countries, with half its population considered poor, according to the World Bank.

The country has experienced numerous coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago.

There have been at least two attempts since Embalo took power. The latest was at the end of October, when the country’s army announced that a group of military officers had been arrested for allegedly planning a coup.