Gambiaj.com – (BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau) – With Guinea-Bissau’s presidential elections scheduled for November 23, the country’s political scene is undergoing major realignments as key figures announce candidacies and break away from long-standing alliances.
Domingos Simões Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) and coordinator of the Inclusive Alliance Platform (PAI–Terra Ranka), confirmed on Monday his acceptance of the party’s nomination as its presidential candidate.
Speaking at his residence in Bissau, Pereira said he is ready to “win the upcoming elections with moral and legal legitimacy alongside the Guinean people,” stressing that Guinea-Bissau needs “firm, legitimate, and patriotic leadership” capable of restoring constitutional order and dignity to public office.
“This candidacy is not mine alone but of all Guineans who aspire to a better country governed with seriousness, competence, and a spirit of service,” he declared. He urged the support of the other parties within the PAI–Terra Ranka coalition, emphasizing that the country is at a “grave and delicate” moment marked by the “subversion of legality, the capture of institutions, and the blatant disrespect of the popular will expressed at the polls.”
Pereira, popularly known as “DSP,” was the sole candidate put forward at the PAIGC’s Central Committee meeting, receiving 359 votes, with nine against and two null ballots.
He also addressed ongoing allegations over a 2015 bailout involving commercial banks, saying his record as a public servant is “clean” and that no factual evidence links him to wrongdoing in the process, which, he noted, was finalized by a different government after his dismissal as prime minister.
Returning to Bissau last Friday after nine months abroad, Pereira criticized the security forces for blocking supporters and journalists at the Osvaldo Vieira International Airport, calling on the military to remain neutral in the run-up to the legislative and presidential polls.
Meanwhile, former President José Mário Vaz (JOMAV) has officially resigned from the Movement for Democratic Alternation–Group 15 (MADEM-G15), citing “purely personal reasons” in a letter to National Coordinator Braima Camará.
Vaz, who served as the party’s honorary president, has recently been holding talks with various political parties to assess the current political situation. His departure comes as Camará’s faction of MADEM-G15 announces its support for incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s bid for a second term and its alignment with the Republican Platform.
In a separate development, Nuno Gomes Nabiam, leader of the Assembly of the United People–Democratic Party of Guinea-Bissau (APU-PDGB), withdrew his party on Monday from the Patriotic Inclusive Alliance–Cabas Garandi (API–Cabas Garandi).
In a letter to API president Baciro Djá, Nabiam communicated the APU-PDGB’s immediate exit from the coalition, only hours after the API publicly announced Fernando Dias da Costa as its presidential candidate and Baciro Djá as head of its legislative list.
Nabiam, who was the first president of the API–Cabas Garandi, had participated in recent high-level meetings analyzing the political landscape before making his move.
The three developments underscore a volatile pre-election environment in Guinea-Bissau, with party leaders repositioning themselves and their bases ahead of what is expected to be one of the country’s most competitive presidential contests in years.
