Guinea-Bissau Military Sets December 6 Election Date After Coup

Guinea-Bissau’s military government has fixed December 6, 2026, for legislative and presidential elections, months after a coup that ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

Announcing the decision on Wednesday, Army leader Major-General Horta Inta-a said, “All the conditions for organising free, fair and transparent elections have been met.”

According to a decree read by Inta-a, the polls will mark the end of a one-year transition period following the November coup that removed Embalo and installed the former Army chief of staff as head of a military-led government.

A transitional charter issued in early December bars Inta-a, described as a close associate of Embalo, from contesting the elections.

The military justified its takeover by claiming it acted to prevent violence, saying Embalo was seeking a second term “to avoid a bloodbath between supporters of the rival candidates.”

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has experienced repeated coups and attempted coups since gaining independence from Portugal over 50 years ago, including a failed coup attempt last October.

With a population of about 2.2 million, the country is also known as a key transit hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a factor analysts say has worsened its political instability.

The election announcement follows a recent visit by an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delegation led by Sierra Leonean President and ECOWAS Chairman Julius Maada Bio, alongside Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The leaders met with Guinea-Bissau’s military authorities and called for a “short, structured and transparent transition,” while demanding the release of political detainees, including opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira, arrested on the day of the coup.

The development comes amid a wave of military takeovers across West Africa since 2020. Military rulers in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso seized power citing insecurity and poor governance, while in neighbouring Guinea, General Mamady Doumbouya overthrew the president in 2021 on a pledge to tackle corruption.