By RFIPosted on 10-29-2019Modified on 29-10-2019 at 17:15

Faustino Fudut Imbali was appointed prime minister by presidential decree. It must be invested on Tuesday. His appointment comes in the middle of a standoff between President Vaz and Prime Minister Aristides Gomes.

On Monday night, President José Mario Vaz announced the dismissal of the government. He believes that there is " a serious political crisis that prevents the normal functioning of the institutions of the Republic ".

The decree read in local radios is very short. It states that the government is removed and this takes effect " immediately ". The president made this decision after consulting with the Council of State. On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Aristides Gomes said the decree canceling his government is " null and void ". In the wake, President José Mario Vaz has appointed Faustino Fudut Imbali as the new Prime Minister.

The electoral calendar is maintained as is. Saturday will be the beginning of the election campaign.

Aristides Gomes, Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau

29-10-2019 - By Bineta Diagne

This new decree further feeds the climate of tension around the electoral process.

In recent weeks, several opposition parties, including Madem and PRS, are calling for a redraft of the electoral register to prevent possible fraud. A request rejected from the beginning Prime Minister Aristides Gomes as the ECOWAS, which is respect for the electoral calendar to avoid a new crisis.

President and Prime Minister no longer speak to each other

As a reminder, the ECOWAS had last June, accepted the renewal of President Jose Mario Vaz for a few more months to the presidency - his term having expired June 23, 2011 - but with very limited powers.

The sub-regional organization entrusted the management of current affairs to Prime Minister Aristides Gomes. The latter sticks to this line: " He is president because we did not want to create more complications in relation to the political crisis, the conference of heads of state that allowed him to stay at the palace. It's been clear, he's still in the chair, but he should not interfere in government affairs . "

A complex system of power sharing

This decree is another element in this crisis between the president and his prime minister and this standoff is a struggle for control of state institutions. Specifically, for several months, the two men do not talk anymore, no longer participate in government meetings. The crisis was exacerbated after the results of legislative elections last March, won by the PAIGC, the historic party.

For Vincent Foucher, CNRS researcher, these elections mark the end of a cycle in which emerged a complex system of power sharing. " Since the coup in 2012, we live in a somewhat mixed system where all political actors have a little access to power, pieces of the state. Here, one could have, at the end of these elections, a consolidation around the PAIGC, which is the dominant historical party of Guinea-Bissau. So this provokes the nervousness of all the actors who try by different ways to challenge, to slow down, the electoral and political process ".

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