The results of Guinea Bissau’s December 29 presidential run-off are being expected on Wednesday, according to Felisberta Vaz Moura, the Spokesperson of the national election supervisory body.
By Ngagne Diouf
Speaking in the capital Bissau on Sunday evening after an assessment of Sunday’s voting exercise, she rejected allegations of fraud claimed by the country’s political leaders which were circulated on social media.
While the counting process continues, Ms. Moura called for calm, pending the proclamation of the results by the election commission, which is the only competent body to do so.
Some 760,000 voters were registered to vote on Sunday to decide between two former prime ministers Domingos Simoes Pereira, candidate of the traditional African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) and Brigadier General in Reserve, Umaro Sissoco Embalo of the MADEM, a splinter group of PAIGC.
Pereira, 56, polled 40.13 percent in the first round on November 24, while his 47-year old rival Embalo, obtained 27.65 percent of the vote.
This cliffhanger of a run-off is being seen as a crucial vote because it is expected to help Guinea-Bissau out of four decades of political turmoil.
Dng/cd/fss/as/APA