Campaigning for Guinea-Bissau’s presidential and legislative elections began on Saturday, with President Umaro Sissoco Embalo leading a massive rally in the capital ahead of the November 23 vote.
Embalo, the only one of 12 candidates to start campaigning on the first day, gathered thousands of supporters clad in shirts bearing his image and red-and-white keffiyehs mirroring his trademark look.
His main rival, Domingos Simoes Pereira, has been barred from contesting along with his PAIGC party and the Pai Terra Ranka coalition. Instead, Pereira has thrown his support behind independent candidate Fernando Dias, pledging the PAIGC’s backing for his bid in the first round.
The campaign launch followed the army’s announcement that it had foiled an attempt to “subvert the constitutional order” by arresting several senior officers accused of trying to disrupt the election.
At his rally, Embalo invoked the incident, declaring that “justice will be for everyone in this country,” and dramatically lifted his shirt to show he was not wearing a bulletproof vest.
The president is running with the support of the No Kumpu Guine platform, a coalition of 19 parties united behind his candidacy. Allies hailed him as the guarantor of stability in a country scarred by four coups since independence in 1974.
“The stability of our country will be guaranteed with him,” said former Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam, echoing the coalition’s confidence that Embalo could win in the first round.
For the first time in its history, Guinea-Bissau’s ballot will not include the PAIGC, the party that led the nation to independence from Portugal. Analysts say its exclusion significantly strengthens Embalo’s prospects for re-election.
A total of 14 parties will compete for the 102 parliamentary seats alongside the presidential contest.