RARE SITUATION, GUINEA BISSAU PRESIDENT WILL NOT RUN FOR A SECOND TERM
Guinea Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo Thursday said he would not run for a second term in the nation’s elections that are scheduled for November.
Speaking at the end of a council of ministers, Embalo said his wife had dissuaded him from running again and did not name a successor.
The Guinea-Bissau leader was elected in January 2020 to succeed outgoing president Jose Mario Vaz. He defeated runner-up Domingos Simoes Pereira with 54% of the vote and would have been eligible for another term in office.
Embalo said neither Pereira nor two other opposition politicians, Braima Camara and Nuno Gomes Na Bian, would take over the reins of leadership — developments that some analysts warn may leave a power vacuum and trigger political instability in a nation that has experienced two failed attempts at overthrowing the president, the latest in December 2023.
(VOA/ Reuters)