Guinea-Bissau votes on giving president more powers

(File photo) A pedestrian walks past a mural that reads “I love Bissau” in Bissau, on November 27, 2025. Military-run Guinea-Bissau holds a referendum on Sunday on a constitutional change that would give the president more powers ahead of a general election meant to restore civilian rule later this year.
It follows a string of other African countries including Zimbabwe and Chad that have amended their constitutions in recent years to extend term lengths, remove age limits or strengthen powers of the executive. The army seized power in Portuguese-speaking Guinea-Bissau in November, just days after a presidential election, overthrowing the head of state and suspending the electoral process. (Photo by PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP)

BISSAU: Voters in military-run Guinea-Bissau cast their ballots on Sunday in a referendum that could give the president more powers, ahead of a general election meant to restore civilian rule later this year. Voting got off to a slow start in some neighborhoods when polls opened at 0700 GMT, correspondents said, after a heavy early morning downpour. Security was stepped up at strategic points in the capital, with members of the national guard and the police stationed at key locations.

Voting closes at 1700 GMT, with the first provisional results due from Tuesday. The referendum comes less than 10 months after a coup in which the military seized power in the impoverished, Portuguese-speaking West African country. The junta says the change seeks to stabilize institutions before new presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for Dec 6 and designed to hand power back to civilians. But the political climate is tense in the coup-prone coastal nation, where the opposition has urged voters to boycott the vote “in a context of restrictions on public freedoms”.

The ruling junta has unanimously approved a constitutional amendment to switch the country to a presidential system from a parliamentary one, and the public is now being asked to back it. The new text proposes abandoning the old system, whereby the prime minister came from the parliamentary majority, which has led to uncomfortable power-sharing. It would also allow the head of state to appoint and dismiss the prime minister and members of the government, and to dissolve parliament. Voters were asked to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question: “Do you agree with the entry into force of the new constitution approved by the National Transitional Council?”

After the junta seized power last November it appointed General Horta N’Tam as transitional president, under a transitional charter that bars him from running for election. The army seized power just days after a presidential election, overthrowing then President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and suspending the electoral process. Following legislative elections in 2023, Embalo had himself dissolved the opposition-dominated parliament in response to what he described as an attempted coup, then ruled by decree until he was ousted by the army.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has experienced five coups and a series of attempted coups since 1974. The referendum follows those in a string of other African countries, including Zimbabwe and Chad, that have amended their constitutions in recent years to extend term lengths, remove age limits or strengthen the powers of the executive. — AFP