Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bissau (Agenzia Fides)- Guinea Bissau will vote in a second round of presidential elections. This was announced by the independent electoral Commission which made public the results of the first round held on 28 June (see Fides 26/6/2009). Since neither of the candidates obtained the necessary 50% plus one of votes in the first round a second round will be held on 2 August. The candidates are Malam Bacai Sanha, of the PAIGC (African Party for Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, formerly the only party), which led the country from May 1999 to May 2000, who obtained 39.6 per cent of the votes and former president Kumba Yala, elected in 2000, overthrown by a coup in 2003, who obtained 29.4 per cent of the votes.
The second round of elections is expected to be similar to the one in 2000 when Kumba Yala and Malam Bacai Sanha competed for presidency, with the clear victory of the former who obtained 72 per cent of the votes
Sanha was the country's temporary president from June 1999 to May 2000, following a military coup to oust President Vieira. The latter, who returned to power after winning elections in 2005, was assassinated by a group of military in March this year in circumstances still to be clarified (see Fides 2/3/2009). Like Vieira, Sanha is a member of PAIGC, a Movement which fought for the country's independence from Portugal, and which, once independence was acquired, governed Guinea Bissau as the only political party for over 20 years (the multiparty system was reintroduced only in 1994). Sanha, companion in arms of Amilcar Cabral, founder of PAIGC, assassinated in 1973, is a Beafada, a minority ethnic group representing 7 per cent of the population. He has a degree in Political Science from the University of Berlin, in what was then the German Democratic Republic, and he is a Muslim. His party, PAIGC, has a majority in the national assembly with 67 out of 100 members.
Kumba Yala was elected President in 2000, incarnating the desire for an alternative to the old one party system, but was criticised by a good part of the people for bad economic management. On a wave of strong popular resentment, in 2003 the army deposed him with a bloodless coup. Kumba Yala, like most of the army, is a Balante, one of the principal ethnic groups in the country. Kumba Yala has a degree in philosophy from the University of Lisbon and recently converted to Islam. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 3/7/2009 righe 30 parole 433)
