Ballots in Guinea-Bissau had just been counted and voters of the Western African nation, alongside international community members, were awaiting the results of the country’s 2025 presidential and legislative elections on Nov. 26 – when military forces announced they were executing a coup d’etat.
The military forces, operating under the name High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order, declared General Horta Nta Na Man as its Head and the Transitional President of Guinea-Bissau on Nov. 27 – a response to the alleged discovery of a plan by foreign and domestic nationals to alter the election results in collaboration with a “well-known drug lord.”
Nta intends to oversee a one-year transitional period.
“The High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order… [is] deeply committed to the values of national security, civil peace and the defense of the territorial integrity and independence of Guinea-Bissau,” said the military junta’s spokesperson, General Denis N’Canha, when the coup was announced.
Former President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his main opposition Fernando Dias had both claimed victory before the votes were counted. However, a joint statement from African organizations revealed that once the ballots were counted, both candidates agreed to accept the results.
The statement, released by the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS), the heads of the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) and the West African Elders Forum, condemned the coup and expressed their disappointment in the reaction, which they consider an attempt to disrupt the democratic process after what they noted to be “an orderly and peaceful conclusion of the voting” in the general election.
ECOWAS members visited Guinea-Bissau on Monday, Dec. 1, to hold constructive conversations with the forces that seized power over the nation.
“On the part of ECOWAS, the chair of the Authority… calls for the immediate restoration of constitutional order, which includes allowing the electoral process to a logical conclusion,” said Sierra Leone Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba during the visit.
Accusations of a Fabricated Coup
Since gaining full independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced at least nine successful or attempted coups. Still, many African political figures are skeptical about the legitimacy of the current seizure of power, given its timing in relation to the revelation of the election results.
Embalo, elected in 2020, has claimed to have survived multiple coup attempts throughout his presidency, but has been previously accused of fabricating them, including the one that began on Nov. 27.
“There is no coup d’état,” said Dias in a video statement. “The president invented the coup because he knew he could not win the elections.”
In the video, Dias claimed to have won the first round of elections and expressed his immense disgust for the coup. He told viewers he was even open to running for a second election to honor the spirit of democracy in Guinea-Bissau.
Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonkio called the military takeover a “sham.”
Similarly, former Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Johnathan, who was temporarily stuck in Guinea-Bissau as part of the election’s observation team, referred to the coup as “ceremonial,” suspicious of the fact that the military junta would allow Embalo to contact media outlets and tell them he’d been arrested.
“What happened in Guinea-Bissau is quite disturbing to me, who believes in democracy,” Jonathan said in a press conference. “It is totally unacceptable. The elections were done peacefully.”
Jonathan has been long dedicated to democracy, having extensive experience overseeing elections in countries such as Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. He stated that he has been “quite particular” about Guinea-Bissau since he became involved in trying to help the nation gain political stability since its 2011 and 2012 coup attempts.
Between then and the 2014 elections, the West African nation experienced great political turmoil. Johnathan recalled once seeing a military official slap the Prime Minister in the face.
“And what is happening [now] is like we are going back to those dark days of Guinea-Bissau, where the military can do whatever they think they can do,” Jonathan said. “[ECOWAS and the AU] cannot force the military out, but…let the world know who won the election.”
Dias has urged the entities that oversaw the election to take a clear position regarding the matter, adamant in his belief that the coup was staged by those who don’t want the public to know the election’s results.
The next steps regarding the nation’s future will be discussed during the Dec. 14 ECOWAS Conference of Heads of State and Government, set to take place in Abuja, Nigeria.
“The only solution is to allow the electoral results to be published,” Dias said in the video. “If we allow fabricated coups to decide elections, then democracy means nothing.”