2019 Guinea-Bissau presidential election

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.[1] 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.

2019 Guinea-Bissau general election

24 November 2019 (first round) 29 December 2019 (second round)

Nominee Umaro Sissoco Embaló Domingos Simões Pereira Party Madem G15 PAIGC Popular vote 293,359 254,468 Percentage 53.55% 46.45%

President before election José Mário Vaz Independent Elected President Umaro Sissoco Embaló Madem G15

Candidates

The elections were contested by 12 candidates, including:[2]

• José Mário Vaz, incumbent president. An economist elected in 2014 as the candidate of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), but now running as an independent; the first president to complete his five year term in office
• Gabriel Fernando Indi of the United Social Democratic Party, a former football club director
• Umaro Sissoco Embaló of Madem G15, a former prime minister
• Carlos Gomes Júnior, a former prime minister running as an independent
• Baciro Djá of the Patriotic Front of National Salvation (FREPASNA), another former prime minister
• Nuno Gomes Nabiam, an MP from the Assembly of the People United
• Mamadú Iaia Djaló of the New Democracy Party, a former foreign minister.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Domingos Simões Pereira	PAIGC	222,870	40.13	254,468	46.45
Umaro Sissoco Embaló	Madem G15	153,530	27.65	293,359	53.55
Nuno Gomes Nabiam	Assembly of the People United	73,063	13.16
José Mário Vaz	Independent	68,933	12.41
Carlos Gomes Júnior	Independent	14,766	2.66
Baciro Djá	Patriotic Front of National Salvation	7,126	1.28
Vicente Fernandes	Democratic Convergence Party	4,250	0.76
Mamadú Iaia Djaló	New Democracy Party	2,813	0.51
Idrissa Djaló	National Unity Party	2,569	0.46
Mutaro Intai Djabi	Independent	2,385	0.43
Gabriel Fernando Indi	United Social Democratic Party	1,982	0.36
António Afonso Té	Republican Party for Independence and Development	1,061	0.19
Invalid/blank votes		11,125	–	5,694	–
Total		566,473	100	553,521	100
Registered voters/turnout		761,676	74.37	761,676	72.67
Source: CNE, CNE

Aftermath

Embaló was inaugurated as president in a ceremony in Bissau on 27 February 2020. However, the PAIGC rejected the results, claiming there had been electoral fraud, and submitted a petition to the Supreme Court. Holding a majority in National People's Assembly, the party swore in Speaker Cipriano Cassamá as a rival president. Cassamá resigned after a day, saying he had received death threats.[3]

Embaló appointed Nuno Gomes Nabiam as Prime Minister. However, former Prime Minister Aristides Gomes refused to resign.[3]

References

1. "Guinea Bissau presidential election to be held on November 24". AfricaNews. 19 June 2019.
2. Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com) (2019-11-02). "Quem são os candidatos às presidenciais na Guiné-Bissau? | DW | 02.11.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
3. Guinea-Bissau's Cipriano Cassamá quits amid 'death threats' BBC News, 2 March 2020