2024 Guinea-Bissau parliamentary election

2024 Guinea-Bissau parliamentary election
	All 102 seats in the National People's Assembly; 52 seats needed for a majority
Rui Duarte de Barros; PAIGC

Snap parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Guinea-Bissau on 24 November 2024.^[1] Incumbent president Umaro Sissoco Embalo dissolved the opposition controlled parliament on 4 December 2023, saying an "attempted coup" had prevented him from returning home from COP28 climate conference.^[2]

This was the second early dissolution by incumbent president Embalo, with his first dissolution of parliament being in 2022, leading to an opposition victory in the 2023 parliamentary election.^[3] In response to the dissolution, parliamentary speaker Domingos Simões Pereira accused the president of carrying out a "constitutional coup d'etat."^[4] Incumbent president Embalo would go on to fire the prime minister Geraldo Martins, who was appointed by the PAIGC-led National Assembly and instead appoint Rui Duarte de Barros by presidential decree.^[5]

Electoral system

The 102 members of the National People's Assembly are elected by two methods; 100 by closed list proportional representation from 27 multi-member constituencies and two from single-member constituencies representing expatriate citizens in Africa and Europe.^[6]

Issues

Various opposition parties have criticized incumbent president Embalo, accusing him of authoritarianism and wanting to establish a dictatorship.^[1] Beyond the outcome of the elections, the broader narrative in Guinea-Bissau in 2024 will revolve around the imperative of establishing and maintaining momentum for a stable system of governance. Central to this narrative will be the efforts to fortify institutional frameworks that serve as guardrails against the abuse of power.^[7]

According to observers, the conditions for new elections have not been met due to organisational challenges. One major issue is the expiration of the terms of the commission members responsible for overseeing elections. Typically, these members would be appointed by parliament, however since the parliament has been dissolved, there is no entity in place to facilitate the appointment of new commission members.^[1]