Guinea-Bissau’s main opposition party, to which the President of the Republic belongs, has asked the Head of State to dissolve the Parliament elected a month and a half ago and call new elections.
The Movement for Democratic Change (Madem-G15) said this Thursday that the president of the National People’s Assembly (ANP), Domingos Simões Pereira, is unable to remain in office and demanded that the President of the Republic dissolve Parliament, under threat of mobilizing the people.
The vice-president of the Madem-G15 parliamentary caucus, José Carlos Macedo Monteiro, surrounded by the other MPs, called on the President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, to “assume his responsibilities”, specifying that he must dissolve the assembly by July 1, 2024 at the latest.
As he explained, this is the date allowed by law, one year after the June legislative elections, which gave victory to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which leads the PAI – Terra Ranka coalition, whose government has been in office for a month and a half.
“President, we’re asking you until June, if you can’t by the end of June, on July 1st dissolve the assembly. If you don’t dissolve it, we’ll put the people out on the streets,” he said at a press conference at the seat of parliament.
“The assembly has to fall,” he insisted, claiming that the president of that body is “defying” the Head of State.
On Wednesday (27.09), the president of the ANP, Domingos Simões Pereira, considered the statements made by the President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who announced the date of the next presidential elections for November 24, 2025, to be “unacceptable and out of place” and considered the weekend celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Guinea-Bissau’s independence to be a demonstration by one party (the PAIGC).
For Madem-G15, in addition to defying the Head of State, the president of Parliament did not comply with the rules of procedure when he called the Independence Day celebrations and did not distribute documentation to this party in time.