Guinea-Bissau: “No conditions” for elections on 6 December

“Hoje is the deadline for submission of applications to the next elections, but I am not aware of any candidacy that has entered, so I believe it is objective to say that the date of December 6 is impractical, not only because of the deadlines, but because the conditions for a trip to the polls are not met ", said Domingos Simões Pereira to the deputies of the parliamentary committee of Foreign Affairs.

Received today at the hearing by Members in Lisbon to “talk in the context of interparliamentary cooperation and the defence of human rights and the rule of law in Guinea-Bissau,” according to the hearing agenda, the leader of the African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) stressed that it is not possible to campaign in this African Portuguese-speaking country when political activity is suspended.

“ When we talk about democracy, we talk about freedom of expression, we talk about freedom of expression, we talk about freedom of assembly and organization, and, if these conditions are not answered, since the whole political demonstration is suspended in Guinea-Bissau, the political parties are forbidden to carry out any activity, so how can we talk about normality and preparation for elections?”, he questioned.

For Domingos Simões Pereira, the seriousness of the crisis requires the intervention of international partners such as Portugal, the African Union, the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) to “help find intersection points from which the necessary consensus can be built” to return the constitutional order to the country.

“I have not come here to ask for sanctions, I have come to ask you to continue to see us as valid interlocutors to restore hope that we can again have a normal society and a rule of law, a respected Constitution, and that those who do not respect it are subject to sanction,” said the leader of the PAIGC to Portuguese deputies.

Asked by journalists at the end of the meeting, Simões Pereira said that the authorities need to give concrete signs that they want to normalize the regular functioning of the institutions in order to get out of the transition state.

“ When I say that the current authorities should deserve a vote of confidence, one way to deserve this vote is to signal that they are interested in creating conditions for political normalization in the country,” he said, adding that a good sign would be the return of the permanent commission of the National Assembly.

Domingos Simões Pereira has been in Lisbon since 24 July, after leaving the prison in Guinea-Bissau, where he was in protective custody.

The former Guinean Prime Minister and elected president of parliament was serving preventive arrest since July 10, in a process in which he is accused by military justice of participation in alleged attempted coup in October 2025 and was authorized by the judge of Criminal Instruction Mamadú Embaló to travel to Portugal.

Guinea-Bissau was the scene of a coup d'état on 26 November 2025, on the eve of the publication of the results of the legislative and presidential elections that had occurred without incident on 23 November.

Following the military action, Domingos Simões Pereira, president of parliament and leader of the opposition, was arrested and, after two months in jail, returned home, but prevented from moving.