Guinea-Bissau’s military authorities have approved a 12-month transitional charter that prohibits the interim president and prime minister from running in the country’s next elections, following a coup that suspended the constitution late last month.
The 29-article document, published on Tuesday, mandates presidential and legislative polls to be held at the end of the one-year transition, with the exact election date to be determined by the transitional president.
Guinea-Bissau Coup
Officers who describe themselves as the Military High Command seized power on 26 November, ousting President Umaro Sissoco Embaló. Major-General Horta Inta-a was appointed interim president the following day, while former finance minister Ilidio Vieira Te was named prime minister.
The coup occurred one day before the electoral commission was due to announce final results from the presidential and legislative elections already underway.
According to the charter, the Military High Command will supervise legal and institutional reforms throughout the transition, including revisions to the suspended constitution, the creation of a new Constitutional Court, a rewrite of political party regulations, and the appointment of new electoral officials.
The development also echoes events in neighbouring Guinea, where coup leader Mamady Doumbouya was initially barred from contesting post-transition elections, a restriction later removed after a new constitution was adopted.
