BISSAU, Sept 12 (Askume) – Guinea-Bissau President Omaro Sissoco Embalo said on Thursday he will not seek re-election in November’s election.
Embalho, 51, was elected to replace outgoing President José Mário Vaz in January 2020. He defeated second-place finisher Domingos Simões Pereira with 54% of the vote and qualified for re-election.
The unexpected announcement could create a power vacuum and increase political instability in the coup-hit country with a population of about 2 million.
At the end of a ministerial meeting on Thursday night, Embalo said his wife had prevented him from contesting re-election.
He said that his successor was neither Pereira nor two other opposition politicians, Brima Camara and Nuno Gomez Na Biane, though he did not give any further details or reveal the name of a successor.
Embalho, a former army general who served as prime minister under Gas, inherited a long-standing political deadlock in a country where coups and unrest have been common since independence from Portugal in 1974.
According to Embalo, there have been two attempts to overthrow him during his presidency, the most recent taking place in December 2023 .
After assuming power he dissolved the Parliament for the second time.
Mbajo called legislative elections for May 2022 after first dissolving parliament, cancelling his plans to pursue constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to consolidate power by ending the country’s semi-presidential system.
Under the current political system, the majority party or coalition appoints the government. But the president has the power to overrule it under certain circumstances, often leading to political deadlock and unrest.
According to experts, the country became a major hub for cocaine smuggling in the 2000s. Police on board a plane arriving from Venezuela on Saturday2.63 tonnes of cocaine was seized.
