Guinea Bissau ruling party contests presidential poll results
Sunday January 05 2020
A woman casts her ballot during the second round of the presidential election in Guinea-Bissau, on December 29, 2019. The country's ruling party filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to nullify the results of the presidential re-run, citing irregularities in the polls. PHOTO | SEYLLOU | AFP
Guinea Bissau’s ruling party has filed a petition at the Supreme Court asking it to nullify the December 29, 2019 presidential re-run.
The African Party for Guinea and Cape Vert Independence (PAIGC) Friday filed the notice, citing irregularities in the polls.
Last Wednesday, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced Mr Umaro Sissoco Embalo of the Movement for Democratic Alternative (Madem-G 15) as the winner. But PAIGC’S Domingos Simões Pereira said the provisional results had “irregularities, nullities and manipulations”.
Supporters of Mr Embalo, the President-elect, say the allegations have no legal basis.
According to CNE, Mr Embalo won the presidential re-run with 53.55 per cent of the votes while Mr Pereira got 46.45 per cent. The re-run required a simple majority victory.
The two former prime ministers went head to head on December 29 to determine who will become Guinea Bissau’s next president after the November 24 election failed to produce an outright winner.
Meanwhile, the USA embassy in Bissau said the elections were just, transparent, free and conducted in an orderly way.
In a statement, the diplomatic mission congratulated Guinea Bissau for a successful presidential re-run.