Guinea-Bissau rivals Embalo, Dias claim win in presidential election

Conflicting claims travel earlier the merchandise of authoritative results by the country’s electoral commission.

The 2 starring candidates successful Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election – incumbent Umaro Sissoco Embalo and main challenger Fernando Dias – person some declared triumph earlier the merchandise of authoritative results.

Both campaigns had claimed connected Monday that their contender exceeded the 50 percent threshold needed to triumph outright, eliminating the request for a run-off.

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“We person won the statesmanlike race. We volition not person a 2nd round,” Dias told supporters successful the capital, Bissau, adding that radical were “tired” and wanted change.

Hours later, Embalo’s run spokesperson Oscar Barbosa besides claimed the president had won outright, insisting determination would beryllium nary run-off and calling connected rivals to debar making claims that undermine the electoral process.

There was nary contiguous remark by the National Electoral Commission, which is expected to denote provisional results connected Thursday, regarding the conflicting claims.

Twelve candidates competed successful Sunday’s canvass that saw a turnout of much than 65 percent.

The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the question that led the combat against Portuguese assemblage rule, was barred from fielding a campaigner for the archetypal time.

The enactment endorsed Dias, boosting his campaign, particularly aft erstwhile Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, the PAIGC leader, backed him. The 47-year-old is lasting with the Party for Social Renewal.

Embalo, 53, is simply a erstwhile service wide who served arsenic premier curate from 2016 to 2018. He is seeking to go Guinea-Bissau’s archetypal president successful 30 years to triumph a 2nd term.

Opposition parties reason that Embalo’s mandate should person ended earlier this year. The Supreme Court ruled that his word should tally until aboriginal September, but the predetermination was pushed backmost to November.

Embalo dissolved parliament, which was controlled by the absorption aft the 2019 and 2023 legislative elections, and has not allowed it to beryllium since December 2023.

Guinea-Bissau has experienced repeated coups and attempted coups since its independency much than 50 years ago, and remains 1 of the world’s poorest countries, with fractional the colonisation surviving successful poverty, according to the World Bank.

More than 200 planetary observers were successful the state to show the electoral process, including from the West African determination bloc ECOWAS, the African Union and the assemblage of Portuguese-speaking countries.