Guinea Bissau will hold presidential elections on November 24 this year, according to a decree announced by president Jose Mario Vaz recently. In the upcoming elections, 49 political parties are legally registered in the country will take part in voting, according to the decree.
The West African country has been in political deadlock since August 2015 when Vaz sacked PAIGC party colleagues after a bitter rivalry between him and his cabinet colleagues. In the meantime, the West African trade bloc has given Guinea-Bissau’s “illegal government” named by President Jose Mario Vaz a 48-hour ultimatum to resign or face sanctions, a representative said amid a tense standoff between the country’s leader and sacked ministers. Vaz has come under fire from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for sacking his cabinet in October ahead of an election scheduled for November 24.
ECOWAS appealed “to all those who have been improperly installed in the illegal government of Mr. Faustino Imbali to resign,” Blaise Diplo, the ECOWAS representative of Guinea Bissau told reporters on Wednesday. The African Union and European Union have also criticised Vaz.
The EU said in a statement last week that the “illegal attempt” to dismiss the government “threatens to derail the ongoing electoral process in Guinea-Bissau”.
