Embaló challenges the Supreme and proclaims himself president of Guinea-Bissau

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The winner of the elections held last December in Guinea-Bissau according to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has proclaimed himself president of his country at an event held this Thursday in a hotel in the capital of Bisauguine with a strong presence of armed military in the surrounding streets. This investiture does not have the approval of the Supreme Court, which has requested a new recount of votes to the Electoral Commission after an appeal filed by the rival candidate. The Government assures that it is a coup d'etat.

Guinea-Bissau remains installed in the political blockade. The presidential elections of two months ago were presented as an opportunity to overcome the institutional and political paralysis that this country has experienced the last five years due to the hard confrontation between the historic African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which Parliament dominates with the support of its allies, and President José Mario Vaz, invested in 2014 and who tried to prevent the elections until the last moment. However, things have become even more complicated.

The electoral authority attributed the victory in second round to Brigadier General Umaro Sissoco Embaló with 53.55% of the votes against his rival Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the PAIGC, who obtained 46.45%. The defeated candidate filed an appeal for alleged fraud before the Supreme Court, who ordered the Electoral Commission to carry out a new count. This body, however, responded up to four times to the requirements of the high court that its work was already done and that it was not necessary to recount the votes.

For the first time since the current political crisis began, the military has clearly taken to the streets and has been to protect the act of investing in Embaló, which took place this Thursday at noon in a room of the Azalay hotel in the city of Bissau . Specifically, it was the members of the Presidential Guard who positioned themselves around the building and in the surrounding streets.

Last January, both the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United States congratulated Embaló, while the European Union, the United Nations and the African Union await the decision of the Supreme in the electoral dispute. The event held on Thursday was attended by only two diplomatic representatives, the ambassadors of Senegal and Gambia. In recent days, Simoes Pereira has denounced that Senegalese President Macky Sall has maneuvered to make Embaló named president.

For the Government of Guinea-Bissau, under the control of PAIGC, there is no doubt and it is a "real coup d'etat" and a "disrespect" to the Parliament, the place where the president must be invested according to the Constitution. Likewise, Prime Minister Aristides Gomes has asked the State security forces to assume their role as "guarantors of security and public order for the eventual consequences of the attempt to subvert the democratic values ​​that underlie the rule of law in Guinea -Bisáu ”.