Guinea-Bissau opposition leader wins presidential election
Guinea-Bissau Opposition leader, Umaro Sissoco Embalo has won the country’s presidential election, with 53.55 per cent of votes, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced Wednesday.
His rival Domingos Simoes Pereira, head of the country’s historic ruling party PAIGC, took 46.45 percent in Sunday’s runoff. “I declare Umaro Sissoco Embalo to be the winner of this second round,” CNE President Jose Pedro Sambu said.
The CNE put turnout at 72.67 per cent, virtually identical to the first round of voting on November 24, which Pereira won with 40.1 per cent against 28 per cent for Embalo. Embalo, 47, is a reserve brigadier general who favours wearing a red-and-white Arab keffiyeh headdress.
Like Pereira, he is also a former prime minister, serving under Vaz between 2016 and 2018, before representing Madem, a party formed by PAIGC rebels. He fought to overcome his first-round vote deficit by portraying himself as a unifier of the country and by gaining the backing of eliminated candidates, including Vaz.
Anietie Udobit