Guinea-Bissau Reveals Date for Presidential, Legislative Elections
Transitional President Gen. Horta Inta-a formalized the decision through presidential decree No. 02/2026, pledging the ballot would proceed under safeguards "progressively put in place" to guarantee voting that is "free, fair and transparent."
The declaration arrives amid escalating regional diplomacy. ECOWAS has ramped up intervention efforts in recent weeks, determined to accelerate the junta's return to civilian governance. On Jan. 10, a senior ECOWAS delegation headed by Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio—the bloc's sitting chairman—flew to Bissau to confront transitional officials over restoration deadlines.
Concluding the mission, Bio emphasized the urgency of "a rapid return to constitutional normalcy" aligned with resolutions from ECOWAS's 68th summit. Accompanying him were ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray and Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Though the regime has now announced a polling date, ECOWAS has not yet publicly responded to the December 2026 proposal. The organization had earlier dismissed a preliminary transition roadmap from the coup architects and maintains demands for freeing all detained politicians while insisting on institutional protections through the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB). Targeted sanctions remain possible if obstruction is detected.
Friction persists surrounding the ongoing imprisonment of Domingos Simoes Pereira, a former parliamentary speaker and prominent opposition leader, who stays behind bars despite partial releases of other political prisoners following Senegalese intervention. His detention continues as a critical flashpoint between the transitional regime and global powers.
Gen. Horta Inta-a consolidated authority on Nov. 26, 2025 when military forces halted the electoral process just 24 hours before official results from Nov. 23 presidential and legislative voting were scheduled for release. International observers, including ECOWAS and multiple monitoring groups, had characterized those polls as "free, transparent and peaceful."
After the takeover, ECOWAS barred Guinea-Bissau from its governing structures and demanded civilian-controlled transition governance. The transitional regime subsequently enacted a Political Charter of the Transition on Nov. 27, 2025, which now provides legal grounding for the December 2026 electoral framework.
Whether this revised calendar will appease regional calls for an abbreviated transition—and prevent additional diplomatic or economic consequences—remains undetermined.
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