PAIGC wins election, but lacks absolute majority

PAIGC, which ruled Guinea-Bissau until it was ousted from power following a brief but bitter civil war five years ago, has emerged as the biggest party in the country’s new parliament, according to elections results published on Sunday. The PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde)won 45 of the 100 seats declared – leaving it just short of an absolute majority. The PAIGC fought a guerrilla war to win independence from Portuguese colonial rule. It governed this small West African country of 1.3 million people from the Portuguese withdrawal in 1974 until 1999, when it was forced out of power at the end of a year-long civil war. Shortly after the provisional results of the 28 March poll were announced by the National Electoral Commission, PAIGC leader Carlos Gomes Junior reiterated his pledge to become prime minister of a broad-based coalition government that would include competent individuals from all the country’s main political parties. The Social Renovation Party (PRS) of former president Kumba Yala, who was deposed in a bloodless coup last September, was runner-up in the election with 35 seats. Yala and the PRS had been elected to power in internationally supervised elections at the end of 1999. However, Yala's government fell apart after he dissolved parliament, indulged in endless cabinet reshuffles and failed to pay civil servants. The United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) of Francisco Fadul, gained 17 seats in the latest parliamentary election. The Electoral Union coalition won two and the United Popular Alliance coalition gained a single seat in the new 102-seat legislature. Two seats for deputies representing Guinea-Bissau migrants to Europe and other parts of Africa have yet to be declared. According to the National Electoral Commission, 75 percent of Guinea-Bissau’s 603,000 registered voters cast a ballot in the election, which took place over two days. Many polling stations in the capital Bissau failed to open on 28 March as a result of organisational problems. They eventually opened two days later. The PRS, which had threatened not to recognise the results of the election, continued to grumble about the figures published on Sunday, saying many of its supporters had been unable to vote. The party complained that even though many its supporters had been issued with voter registration cards, their names failed to appear on the electoral roll and they had not been allowed to cast a ballot. But Higino Cardoso, the head of National Electoral Commission, hit back, accusing the PRS itself attempted fraud. He stressed that the voter registration process had been supervised by Joaquim Namone, a senior PRS official, and had been completed before the coup that ousted Kumba Yala’s chaotic regime. However, during the voter registration process, Cardoso said, many PRS supporters were issued with several cards which they subsequently used to try and vote more than once. According to the PRS, he noted, the capital should have had 300,000 registered voters. However the city had only had that number of inhabitants. The National Electoral Commission registered just 130,000 voters in Bissau. A team of more than 100 international observers praised the conduct of the elections, describing the poll as “free, fair and transparent.” However, General Verissimo Correia Seabra, the armed forces commander who overthrew Kumba Yala last year, ordered the publication of results to be delayed for several days following complaints by the PRS. A high-level delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) flew into the country on Thursday to persuade all parties to accept the result of the election. The mission, led by Ghanaian Foreign Minister Nana Akuffo-Addo, left again on Saturday. President Henrique Rosas said in a radio broadcast on Sunday that he expected a new government to be formed within a week. He appealed to people to remain calm and stay at home. Many residents of Bissau crowded into buses and cars to leave the capital on Saturday and Sunday morning, fearing that publication of the election results would trigger an outbreak of political violence. But the city remained calm and there was no evidence of an increased police or army presence on the streets. Artur Sanha, the outgoing prime minister of Guinea-Bissau’s broad-based interim government, has placed himself in a difficult position. His broad-based administration organised the parliamentary election, yet Sanha, who is secretary general of the PRS, subsequently joined his party in claiming that it was marred by gross irregularities. Guinea-Bissau’s return to constitutional rule will be completed in 12 months’ time with the holding of presidential elections.