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News > Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau: Umaro C. Embalo Wins Presidential Election

  • Embalo, nicknamed

    Embalo, nicknamed "The General", served as prime minister between 2016 and 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 January 2020
Opinion

Domingos Simoes Pereira, Embalo's rival, said the results were "full of irregularities, annulment, and manipulation" and he will contest the result at the Supreme Court.

Guinea-Bissau's former Prime Minister Umaro Cissoko Embalo won the presidential election with 53.5 percent of votes against Domingos Simoes Pereira, head of the country's ruling PAIGC party, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced Wednesday.

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Election observers have also said they found no evidence of vote tampering in Sunday's run-off, but Pereira said the results were "full of irregularities, annulment, and manipulation" as he vowed to mount a challenge in the Supreme Court.

"I declare Umaro Sissoco Embalo to be the winner of this second round," said CNE President Jose Pedro Sambu. However, the losing candidate told his supporters he will contest the result at the Supreme Court.

Embalo has said he wants to resolve political tensions in the West African country, which has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1974.

Incumbent President Jose Mario Vaz, who crashed out of the election in the first round in November, was the first head of state to carry out his term without being either deposed or assassinated, but his administration was harmed by issues including political infighting and allegations of corruption.

Winning Embalo served as prime minister between 2016 and 2018, representing Madem, a party formed by PAIGC rebels. He fought to overcome his first-round vote deficit by portraying himself as a unifier of the country and by gaining the backing of eliminated candidates, including Vaz.

Born in the capital city Bissau, Embalo is a member of the Fulani ethnic group. At university, he studied social and political science in Spain and Portugal. He sought early retirement from the army in the 1990s and launched an investment fund set up by the then Libyan government.

In October, Prime Minister Aristide Gomes of the PAIGC accused him of plotting a coup, charges Embalo denied.

Embalo has also vowed to modernize Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest nations, home to some 1.6 million people. As president, he will face major challenges including poverty and drug trafficking, as well as the unstable political system that led to an impasse under Vaz's presidency in which parliament can appoint the prime minister, but this appointee can be fired by the president. 

                                                                                      

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