Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission has officially declared that it is no longer able to complete the electoral process for the presidential election held on 23 November.
The primary reason is that armed men seized ballot boxes, vote tally sheets and computer equipment from the commission’s headquarters, in addition to destroying the servers that stored the election results.
The announcement came one day after military officers seized power on 26 November, halting the release of preliminary results.
Idrissa Djalo, a senior commission official, stated that all tally sheets from every district had been confiscated, making it “impossible” to continue the process.
Meanwhile, Major General Horta N’Ta was sworn in as transitional president on 27 November, announcing a one-year transition period.
Since the coup, authorities have tightened security, banned protests and strikes, and N’Ta announced last Saturday the formation of a new government dominated by allies of the ousted president.
The election itself was highly disputed: outgoing president Umaro Sissoco Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa each declared victory before any official announcement. The final results remain undisclosed.
