https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / African News RSS ← Back
Power|System
Power|System
power|system
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Guinea Bissau President Embalo says he will not run for a second term

Close

Embed Video

Guinea Bissau President Embalo says he will not run for a second term

12th September 2024

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Guinea Bissau's President Umaro Cissoko Embalo said on Thursday he would not run for a second term in elections in November.

Embalo, 51, was elected in January 2020 to succeed outgoing president Jose Mario Vaz. He defeated runner-up Domingos Simoes Pereira with 54% of the vote and would have been eligible for another term in office.

Advertisement

The unexpected announcement could trigger a power vacuum and heighten political instability in the coup-prone country of around two-million people.

At the end of a council of ministers on Thursday night, Embalo said his wife had dissuaded him from running again.

Advertisement

He said his successor would not be Pereira nor two other opposition politicians, Braima Camara and Nuno Gomes Na Bian, without elaborating further or naming a successor.

Embalo, an ex-army general who served as prime minister under Vaz, inherited a long-running political impasse in a country where coups and unrest have been common since independence from Portugal in 1974.

There were two attempts to overthrow him during his presidency, according to Embalo, the latest in December 2023.

He dissolved parliament days later for the second time since he came to power.

Legislative elections that followed after the first time Embalo dissolved parliament, in May 2022, quashed his plans to push through a constitutional change that would have allowed him to consolidate power by ridding the country of its semi-presidential system.

Under the current political system, the majority party or coalition appoints the government. But the president has the power to dismiss it in certain circumstances, often leading to political deadlock and turmoil.

The country also emerged as a major cocaine trafficking hub in the 2000s, according to experts. Police on Saturday seized 2.63 tons of cocaine found on an airplane that arrived from Venezuela.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za