Guinea-Bissau: the winner of the elections forms a coalition government

Voters in Guinea-Bissau voted on March 10 to elect a new parliament in hopes of ending the deadlock of leaders in a country renowned for its drug trafficking and instability. By SEYLLOU (AFP / File)

The ruling party, the historic party of Guinea-Bissau, signed an agreement Monday to form a coalition government after falling to the limit of the majority in the legislative elections last week, political leaders said.

According to the National Electoral Commission, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) won 47 of the 102 seats in Parliament and 46.1% of the votes cast.

Two other parties won an additional 48 seats, with the last seven seats being won by factions that last week agreed to support a PAIGC-led government.

A two-page document envisions an "inclusive" coalition government spanning the four years of the legislature and focusing on reforming the constitution and the security apparatus and public administration.

"There is neither winner nor loser, the important thing is to work together to get our country out of the crisis it has been going through for a number of years," said Mama Saliu Lamba, APU's party member. PDGB, which won five seats in the planned coalition.

Domingos Simoes Pereira, head of PAIGC, said: "People made a choice on March 10 and entrusted us with a mission".

"The signing of this agreement creates the conditions for a majority in parliament," he added.

The Supreme Court has not yet officially approved the election results, but President Jose Mario Vaz has already congratulated the PAIGC for the result.

It was hoped that the March 10 vote would draw attention to the crisis that erupted in August 2015 when Vaz – also a PAIGC member – sacked Pereira, his prime minister.

The two men have since maintained a very tense relationship and some feared that the ballot boxes could have left the poor and unstable West African state to be in a new confrontation, badysts warned.

The PAIGC – a Marxist party that has ruled the country of two million people for nearly 45 years since the independence of Portugal – won the previous polls in 2014 with 57 seats.