Bissau-Guineans vote Sunday, June 4 to renew their National Assembly, dissolved more than a year ago, and try to get out of the paralysis that blocks this small West African state, subscribed to political crises.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (GMT and local). The 884,000 registered voters will be able to vote until 17 p.m. for this first-past-the-post proportional election, which must renew the 102 deputies and whose results are expected at least 48 hours later.

As soon as it opened, in a polling station outside Bairro Militar, a district of the capital Bissau, about thirty voters waited in single file in the shade of a few trees, under the eye of security forces deployed nearby to monitor the vote.

"There is usually unrest after the votes are counted. But this time I hope there won't be. May the best win and let there be peace in the country," Fode Malam Faty, 55, a Social Renewal Party candidate, said just after casting his vote.

Guinea-Bissau suffers from chronic political instability and has been the victim of a string of coups or coup attempts since its independence from Portugal in 1974, the last in February 2022. Some 200 international observers are deployed in the country to monitor the vote.

Appointment of a new Prime Minister

Twenty-two political parties are vying for the election, including the three that shared almost all the seats in the outgoing Assembly: the Madem G15, the political family of President Embalo, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) founded by Amilcar Cabral, who has long dominated national politics, and the Social Renewal Party (PRS).

A new Prime Minister will be appointed after the vote.

"The next government must think of us, pay our pensions regularly. Not only are they ridiculous, but sometimes we wait several months before touching them. I also pray for stability," Bacary Djassi, 75, told AFP.

In this country, one of the least developed in the world, successively affected by the consequences of the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine, economic issues are at the heart of concerns. "Let the future prime minister find solutions to the high cost of living," insisted Diarra Fati, 47.

"We are being trained for unemployment. No job for thousands of young graduates," said Teodoro Mendes, a 23-year-old student at Amilcar Cabral University, who wants an innovative government, listening to young people and creating professional opportunities.

With AFP

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