The technical and financial conditions are conducive to holding presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau on November 24, according to the Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) who was speaking to journalists in Bissau on Wednesday.
By Nouah Mancaly
Idrissa Djaló was speaking shortly after completing a fact-finding tour of a warehouse where election materials, including 955,000 ballots, 6,600 voters’ lists and 64,000 forms are kept.
Mr. Djalo, who was accompanied by all the representatives of the 12 presidential candidates, assured Guinea Bissau nationals that the distribution of ballots to regional electoral commissions would soon be completed.
After that, he added, the heads of polling stations will take possession of their quotas in order to carry out the usual checks with the representative of each candidate on Election Day and well before the vote.
According to Djalo, the few wrong notes detected in the voting operations in previous elections should be a thing of the past, as they have all been rectified.
Twelve candidates, including incumbent President José Mario Vaz, will participate in the presidential election, which has been postponed at least twice, plunging the country into a political crisis.
This has been sharpened by tensions between President Vaz and his sacked former Prime Minister, Aristides Gomes.
Although dismissed and replaced by Faustino Fudut Imbalo who eventually resigned, Gomes maintained his cabinet on the grounds that President Vaz whose term ended last June did not have the power to fire him.
Gomes’ position has been backed by the international community, especially the ECOWAS mediator in the Guinea-Bissau crisis.
NM/cat/lb/as/APA