The 860,000 Guinean voters voted in an orderly and peaceful manner across the national territory and in the diaspora (excluding Senegal) last Sunday in the seventh parliamentary elections, the provisional election results of which will be announced on Wednesday 7 June.
At the opening of the polls, the Civil Society Monitoring Cell visited 177 polling stations across the national territory, of which it was verified that 165, corresponding to 93 percent, opened at the specified time, while 12, corresponding to 7 percent, opened with a slight delay, 169 opened with full material and 8 had no full material. Missing materials were mostly permanent markers, ballots, voting booths, and copies of voter rolls. All polling stations visited complied with the legal procedures for opening ballot boxes and counting votes.
On the ground, the mobilization and willingness of voters to participate in the voting and of the Civil Society Monitoring Cell was visible in the field monitoring and social networks to ensure credible, free, fair and transparent parliamentary elections .
Nevertheless, the Civil Society Monitoring Cell considered that last Sunday’s legislative process took place in an overall good voting climate, but that Guineans’ visits to the polls took place in a relatively sensitive context. Since the beginning of the legislative process, the political and electoral debate in Guinea-Bissau has been marked by disagreements between the government, the parliament and the different political formations over the transparent rules of the electoral game.
Before last Sunday’s legislative session, there were sensitive issues that marked the political debate between the various political formations that rivaled last Sunday’s legislature: dissolution of the National People’s Assembly (ANP) on May 16, 2022 and planning of early elections on May 18 December of the same year, by presidential decree; Formation of presidential initiative government, reappointment of then Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam; Challenge of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in the face of successive lawsuits and police crackdowns to prevent the holding of its Tenth Congress and restrictions on its President’s right of movement; lack of consensus on the vacancy of the chairman of the National Elections Commission (CNE) and subsequently the expiration of the CNE itself; decision of the Supreme Court to eliminate 28 political parties on the basis of expired legislation; postponement of parliamentary elections scheduled for December 18, 2022 and rescheduled for June 4, 2023; the failure of the citizenship education campaign and the demonstration of almost all political parties regarding the conduct of the registration process by the Technical Support Office for the Electoral Process (GTAPE) and the non-compliance with the parity law in the compilation of candidate lists for delegates.
As always, there were also pre-election tensions that were not conducive to a peaceful climate in the course of last Sunday’s legislative process. For example, there was a lack of consensus among six political parties with parliamentary representation for the election of new members of the CNE Executive Secretariat; political parties without a parliamentary seat criticized their exclusion from the debate on the renewal of the CNE’s executive secretariat and the preliminary injunction filed by the PAIGC and the Union for Change (UM) at the Supreme Court.
There were no major incidents during the election campaign that ran from May 13 to June 2, 2023. However, the Civil Society Election Observatory recorded some events considered “serious incidents” that could indicate an electoral crisis in the phase of publication and acceptance of the election results of last Sunday’s parliamentary elections, the preliminary control of which will be announced in the following Wednesday, June 7.
During the election campaign, some leaders of the political parties made no secret of what position they would take after the announcement of the election results. There were arguments and strong positions from some political party leaders suggesting that the post-election scenario will not be easy, as always, to end the political culture of non-acceptance of the results in Guinea- Bissau.
The leader of the Social Renewal Party (PRS), Fernando Dias, has guaranteed that any possible manipulation of his party’s election results will have unpredictable consequences. On the other hand, the Civil Society Election Observation Cell deplored the use of violent language and ethno-religious divisions by parts of the political parties and their supporters during the election campaign.
There was also an improper use of the image of the President of the Republic in the election campaign by the candidate of the Movement for Democratic Alternation – Group of 15 (MADEM G15) and a public statement by the President of the Republic Umaro Sissaco Embaló of not appointing the president and vice president of the PAIGC even in the event of a victory of your party and attempting to buy conscience during the election campaign through the distribution of money, material goods and food were the incidents that affected the electoral political culture of non-acceptance of the results that have always reigned in all processes of elections held in Guinea-Bissau so far.
These incidents highlighted by the civil society electoral observation cell may be evidence of a preparation for political tension following the announcement of preliminary results next Wednesday. Incidentally, the problem with elections in Guinea-Bissau, as always, does not lie in the popular voting process, with Guinean voters tending to always vote in an atmosphere of revelry and harmony throughout the national territory. The fundamental problem of all elections held so far in Guinea-Bissau (7 legislative – including last Sunday’s legislative – and 6 presidential) lies in the lack of a democratic culture of acceptance of the election results by the candidates and the political parties vying for legislative power. and presidential elections since the country entered the multi-party system.
The next seven days will be of fundamental importance in the lives of the people and the democratic system of Guinea-Bissau in order to know whether the 20 political parties and two coalitions that took part in last Sunday’s parliamentary elections will see the preliminary results published by the CNE. will not accept. released next Wednesday Friday, June 7.
Despite the fact that CNE Deputy Executive Secretary Idrissa Djaló assured that “during the voting act last Sunday there were no situations worthy of undermining the process” of last Sunday’s parliamentary elections and that his organization faced a number of situations that deserved attention from the CNE.
For example, the situation of voters whose name was not on the voter list, but who are voter card holders. This is not a computer problem, but a lack of diligence on the part of the voters themselves who have not taken advantage of the complaint period to correct the irregularities and omissions identified during the voter registration period.
However, Idrissa Djaló urged the voting population of Guinea-Bissau to remain calm, serene and vigilant to ensure that the principles and values of electoral integrity acquired by the CNE are preserved during the democratic conquest of Guinea-Bissau. And he also said he was convinced that last Sunday’s elections were conducted in an atmosphere of great cordiality, cooperation and solidarity between the parties and that they ultimately laid the foundations for an orderly and peaceful election.
Source: DN
