Presidential Elections in Guinea Bissau 2005: a Stabilizing Factor in A

www.ssoar.info Presidential elections in Guinea Bissau 2005: a stabilizing factor in a fragile democracy or only a spot test of the state of affairs? Rotzoll, Iris Cordelia; Vaz, Nuno Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Rotzoll, I. C., & Vaz, N. (2005). Presidential elections in Guinea Bissau 2005: a stabilizing factor in a fragile democracy or only a spot test of the state of affairs? Afrika Spectrum, 40(3), 535-546. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168- ssoar-104817 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de afrika spectrum 40 (2005) 3: 535-546 © 2005 Institut für Afrika-Kunde, Hamburg Kurzbeitrag / Report Nuno Vaz / Iris Cordelia Rotzoll Presidential elections in Guinea Bissau 2005 A stabilizing factor in a fragile democracy or only a spot test of the state of affairs? Introduction n the hot afternoon of 7 April 2005 General João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira O returned after six years of exile in Portugal to his native Guinea Bissau. Coming from Guinea Conakry, his helicopter landed at the 24 September Sta- dium in the heart of the city of Bissau. The ex-president had governed Guinea Bissau for 19 years, from 1980 when he took power from Amilcar Cabral’s half-brother, Luis Cabral, until 1999 when he was forced to leave the country following the 1998-1999 civil war. Now he was greeted by thousands of sup- porters and curious countrymen. Just one day before, another ex-president’s announced intention to run in the summer presidential elections had raised concern at the UN Security Council: Koumba Yala led the country from 2000 until September 2003 when he was ousted in a bloodless coup. According to the constitution he was banned from returning to politics for five years following his deposition. He is known for his unconventional ways to make himself heard. This time he announced that he would take the presidency on his own, should he be not al- lowed to run. The third key player in the June-July presidential elections was another ex-president, Malam Bacai Sanha of the post-independence PAIGC (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde - African Party for the Inde- pendence of Guinea and Cape Verde). The elections were supposed to mark the end of the transitional period that had started with the military’s intervention in 2003, ousting Koumba Yala and appointing Henrique Rosa as Interim President. Rosa´s duty was it to organize parliamentary elections in 2004 and presidential elections before May 2005. The international community was generously supporting the or- ganization of the electoral process but had made clear beforehand that a le- gitimate government in place was the prerequisite of any additional financial 536 Nuno Vaz / Iris Cordelia Rotzoll and technical assistance to Guinea Bissau.1 Therefore a comparatively large amount of national and international attention was focused on the elections in this small country. The main candidates and the past months´ events can be understood only when put in perspective with the country’s recent history. Recent history, main candidates and political forces in the 2005 elections PAIGC was the party that ruled the country from independence in 1973/1974 to 2000. It was founded by Amilcar Cabral. At the time when PAIGC was still a socialist party, it tried to reduce the political instrumentalization of ethnic identity and tension that the Portuguese had so much relied upon by system- atically replacing village chiefs’ authority (the so-called “régulos”), with village committees, the Comités de Tabancas. PAIGC was, according to the constitution, until 1991 the only recognized political force in the country. Still today, it is omnipresent in the political arena as a powerful machine. Most people in today’s politics have passed through PAIGC one way or another. PAIGC’s first crisis came about in 1986 with the Acontecimentos de 17 de Outubro, the events of 17 October, when, following an alleged conspiracy, the president at that time, Nino Vieira, ordered the killing of key figures of PAIGC, Paulo Correia and Viriato Pan, as well as several military. Most of them were Balanta, the ethnic group that is still the most prominent in the country and in the military. The next blow for PAIGC came in 1991 when Nino Vieira, still the PAIGC president, agreed to open the country to a multi- party democracy, leading to serious internal divisions between the party’s reformers and hardliners. Consequently, the first parliamentary and presidential elections were held in 1994. PAIGC gained only 62 of the 102 seats in par- liament, and Nino Vieira won the run-off elections with 52 % against Koumba Yala. These elections marked the re-introduction of ethnicity as a major force in Guinea’s politics. By June 1998 Nino Vieira’s style of government was marked by clientel- ism, corruption, a lack of concern for the population’s well-being and eco- nomic stagnation. Nino Vieira, a general himself, grossly overestimated its own popularity when he decided to dismiss the army’s chief of staff, Ansu- mane Mané, causing a rebellion within the armed forces and taking the con- flict to the streets of Bissau. Vieira asked for military support from Senegal and Guinea Conakry, but after one year of military siege and physical and 1 cf.: ‘Multimillion Dollar Funds for Guinea Bissau as Countries Pledged to Support the Presidential Election’, The Independent (Banjul) 21 February 2005 posted on the web 22 Feb- ruary 2005. Presidential Elections in Guinea Bissau 2005 537 moral destruction of the capital Bissau, he took refuge in Portugal, where he lived in exile until his return in April 2005. The years following the war were marked by rapidly changing govern- ments and instability. The ousted Ansumane Mané headed a Military Junta that later nominated Malam Bacai Sanha Interim President in order to prepare elections in 1999/2000. At that time the prestige of PAIGC was at its all time low. Whereas PAIGC came in only third in these elections, Koumba Yala and his PRS2 became the country’s first political force. Koumba Yala’s term in of- fice was marked by authoritarian rule, a disrespect of the already weak consti- tutional institutions and an appeal to tribalism. He was deposed by the military in 2003 making way for another transitional government under President Henrique Rosa with the mandate to organize legislative elections in March 2004, and presidential elections within eighteen months. In May 2005 the Supreme Court decided to admit a total of thirteen candidates for the presidential elections, amongst them Nino Vieira and Koumba Yala, both of whom were still banned from holding any political post.3 Though heavily criticized, the court´s decision went unchallenged and had important political implications. PAIGC’s candidate for this year’s election was Malam Bancai Sanha, a 52-year-old Muslim from the ethnic minority Biafada, from the Quinara re- gion. He studied in former East Germany and has held important posts within PAIGC and the government, including Provincial Governor to Presi- dent of the Workers Union UNTG, Minister of Information and President of the National Assembly and finally Interim President in the years 1999-2000. Nino Vieira, 66, who did not succeed in being nominated PAIGC candidate, decided to run as an independent candidate, but he took with him important strategists from PAIGC, such as Aristides Gomes. This was an important change in Guinea Bissauian party structure. Nino’s attributes, as hero of the anti-colonial struggle, side by side with Amilcar Cabral, as founder of PAIGC and a military general, his inherent connection with the shaping of the country’s first years of independence, now for the first time were not precisely linked to PAIGC’s national party structure. This stirred up voters’ loyalty to PAIGC. Nino’s message upon his return from Portugal now was one of national reconciliation, of a reform of the armed forces, including their re- 2 PRS – Partido da Renovação Social (Social Renovation Party). 3 cf. Kumba Yala y “Nino” Viera présidentiables, Monique Mas, RFI 11/05/2005; Yala was granted the right to run on the election after the Supreme Court had declared invalid his letter of resignation from the presidency, on the grounds it had been signed under the pres- sure of a coup d’état. And because his letter of resignation was considered invalid now, Koumba Yala decided to occupy the Presidential Palace for a short time on May 25th before being evicted, a fact that a few days later he denied to ever have occurred, both the intrusion and the eviction. 538 Nuno Vaz / Iris Cordelia Rotzoll integration into their genuine role in a democratic society. Nino is of Papel origin, an ethnic group that lives mostly in Bissau and Biombo. Koumba Yala was the founder of PRS (Partido da Renovacão Social - Party for Social Renovation) and was said to have studied philosophy in Portugal and political science in RDA. He was the only Balanta candidate, an ethnic group that includes roughly 30 % of the population and is important in the armed forces.

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