Some members of the local government demonstrated to the president of Guinea-Bissau that there are no conditions for holding legislative elections on November 24.
The Guinean president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, announced this Saturday that he will decree, next week, at the suggestion of the Government, the postponement of the early legislative elections that he had planned for the 24th of this month.
In a speech at the general command of the National Guard in Bissau, Sissoco Embaló stated that between Monday and Tuesday he will publish the decree to “announce de jure the postponement of the elections,” which, he said, “are already postponed from fact.” .
“The decree is just a way to announce, but the elections will be postponed. The Government proposes the President and the President does not organize the elections,” he stated.
On Friday, Umaro Sissoco Embaló received at the Presidential Palace, in Bissau, some members of the Government who showed him that there are no conditions for holding legislative elections on the 24th.
The Minister of Territorial Administration and Local Power, Aristides Gomes, stated, at the time, that the National Electoral Commission (CNE) was having difficulties in complying with the schedule of activities established by it and therefore the vote should be postponed by the President.
“The Government, before speaking with the President, spoke with the CNE and the Supreme Court of Justice, which arrived late with the final list of parties. Everyone here was late. The only entity that was not late was the President of the Republic,” said Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
The Guinean president stated that he will call a consultation with the parties and coalitions participating in the next legislative elections to find a new date to go to the polls.
The head of state stated that the parties and coalitions that announced that they would begin the electoral campaign this Saturday, taking into account the date of November 24, would be “acting theater or causing disorder.”
“Whoever campaigns is acting. If the Government that holds elections, the President only signs a decree, says that there are no conditions to hold elections, it means that there are no conditions,” he stated.
“If it is not because people intend to provoke or create disorder, they should know that the Government says that there are no conditions to hold elections,” he added.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló also said that he agrees with the idea of creating a Government of National Unity and announced that he will launch a national dialogue, as proposed by the Movement of Society Organizations.
Embaló defended that he accepts these ideas if they constitute solutions to the crisis that the country is experiencing.
“I am a ‘Zé Povinho’, poor thing, I am here waiting for what they tell me is necessary,” highlighted the Guinean president.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló dismissed the Government after the legislative elections held in June 2023 and dissolved parliament, alleging a “serious institutional crisis” in the country.
At that time, Embaló announced an attempted coup d’état while calling for early legislative elections.
Source: Observadora
