By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Guinea-Bissau has lamented the failure of his political party, Madem G15 to win majority of the parliamentarian seats in the Sunday election that came over a year after he dissolved the parliament.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo’s party lost to the coalition of five-party opposition groups, led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) which won 54 of 102 seats in the polls.
Madem G15 party grabbed 29, according to results announced by the independent electoral commission on Thursday.
Similarly, the Party for Social Renewal (PRS) won 12 seats, the Workers’ Party six seats, leaving the Assembly of the People United with one seat.
More than 20 political parties and coalitions tested their popularity in the elections that will restore parliament after a 13-month absence following the dissolution by Embalo.
While lamenting the failure of his party, he said the people have punished it.
In an address to the nation after the election results were announced, he said, “My party has failed. The people have punished it,” while congratulating the winning coalition.
Embalo while dissolving the National Assembly in May 2022 after falling out with lawmakers, described the legislature as a “space for guerrilla politics and plotting”.
The outcome may be a setback for Embalo, who took office in 2020.
His plans to push through a constitutional change that will allow him to consolidate power by ridding the country of its semi-presidential system may fail.
Under the current political system, the majority party or coalition appoints the government, but the president has the power to dismiss it in certain circumstances, Associated Press reports.
Sunday’s vote was given a clean bill of health by about 200 international monitors, who said they had not observed any major incident and described the ballot as “free, transparent and calm”.
The country of nearly 2 million people has seen frequent political turmoil with at least 10 coups or attempted coups since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
There was an attempt to overthrow Embalo in February 2022.
