The PAI – Terra Ranka coalition will propose that its list leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, lead the new Guinean parliament. Analysts applaud the decision, but point out that the President of the Republic does not “come off well”.
After presenting himself as the head of the Inclusive Alliance Platform (PAI)-Terra Ranka coalition list, Domingos Simões Pereira has now been nominated to chair the National People’s Assembly (ANP). The nomination was authenticated by the PAIGC central committee, through the votes of 396 of the 401 members present at the meeting of the party body.
Simões Pereira was proposed to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) by the conference of leaders of the five coalition parties. After being approved in the party, it now remains for the deputies of PAI – Terra Ranka, which holds an absolute majority in Parliament, to approve the proposal.
Mr Simões Pereira said he was ready for a new challenge in his political career. “It is indeed a great responsibility, but it is also a privilege, because anyone who is a militant and leader of a party, especially as President, must be prepared for missions, and I am prepared for that,” he said.
“I hope I have the capacity and competence to be able to translate this into success,” he added.
Domingos Simões Pereira is popular with the public. Many voters reportedly voted for the PAI – Terra Ranka coalition to make him Prime minister. But given the current political reality in the country – and past disagreements between Simões Pereira and the President of the Republic, sociologist Diamantino Lopes does not think the population has any reason to be disappointed.
“Being in Parliament, Simões Pereira is responding to the expectations of the people and their wishes,” he comments. The President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who during the election campaign said he would not nominate Domingos Simões Pereira for the post of Prime minister, has gone back on his decision and has said on several occasions that if the party leader was proposed for the post, he would swear him in to work together.