Overview
- Polling covers the presidency and all 102 parliamentary seats, with about 860,000 registered voters out of roughly 2.2 million people.
- Twelve candidates are on the presidential ballot, though analysts rate the contest between President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and Fernando Dias as close, with a runoff required without a majority.
- The Supreme Court barred the PAIGC and its leader Domingos Simoes Pereira for late filings, removing the country’s traditional main opposition from the vote.
- Authorities deployed more than 6,780 security personnel, including ECOWAS forces, and closed air, land and sea borders for election day.
- Provisional results are expected within 48 hours in a country with a history of coups, where Embalo dissolved parliament in 2023 and has since ruled largely by decree.