With Guinea-Bissau’s presidential term ending on February 27, no date has been set for the next election, prompting concerns from opposition leaders about a looming constitutional crisis.
PAI-Terra Ranka coalition leader Domingos Simões Pereira warned on November 6 that the country risks descending into a “non-State” status, with President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s term nearing its end and no electoral timeline in place.
Pereira, who is also the elected but deposed President of the National People’s Assembly and leader of PAIGC, stated that failing to schedule elections would render all government institutions illegal under Guinea-Bissau’s constitution. “If the people do not take responsibility, mobilize, and demand a return to normal governance, Guinea-Bissau will fall into total anarchy, where no law supports any institution,” he said.
The PAI-Terra Ranka coalition held a press conference addressing the political climate following the president’s decision to postpone the early legislative elections initially set for November 24. Pereira underscored that with the president’s term ending, “institutions responsible for upholding the law are either compromised, deprived of authority, or rendered ineffective,” threatening the nation’s legal and democratic order.