POLITICS: Broke, Guinea-Bissau May Postpone Legislative Elections

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

BISSAU, May 22 2003 (IPS) - Legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau, which is scheduled for Jul. 6, may not take place because of the political and economic crisis in the former Portuguese colony.

"Unless the president decides otherwise, the commission is committed to conducting the legislative elections in July," says Filomeno Lobo de Pina, the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission.

Guinea-Bissau’s economy is in dire crisis, with public sector workers on strike.

"Teachers, health workers and even the government-owned TV and radio stations are all on strike, because of overdue salary payments," remarks Joazinho Gomez, a teacher in the capital, Bissau.

There is little excitement across the tiny West African country among the electorate for the July polls. The mood is sombre, with many people barely struggling to pick up the pieces of their broken lives. "Vote for who?" asks Ravi Mamdou Diallo, a taxi driver. "The politicians only preach the virtues of peace and national development. But once elected, they turn into corrupt public officials."

According to Pina, logistical constraints, such as transporting elections materials and even funds, have paralysed efforts to conduct the polls. "We do have serious problems facing the Commission, which needs lots of funds if the elections are to happen," he says.

Already, some 22 political parties have been approved by the Supreme Court to contest the elections, the major ones being the ruling Social Renovation party, the largest opposition African Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde party, as well as the Resistance of Guinea-Bissau party.

Officials of the Electoral Commission say most of the parties are so bankrupt that they cannot conduct their campaigns. "After all, the political parties need funds to be able to participate in the elections; but as I see it, most of the parties in this country are not as affluent enough to partake of the polls," a senior Elections official told IPS in Bissau on Tuesday.

The West African country, once hailed as a potential model for Third World development, is now one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a gross national product (gdp) of just over 200 U.S. dollars. Its population is estimated at about 1.2 million and it is a predominantly agricultural-base economy.

The country has faced crisis after crisis. In 1999, a year-long civil war devastated many of the country’s infrastructures, and it seems the international donor community is in no hurry to help rehabilitate the country’s damaged infrastructure and put the country back on the course of democracy.

There is also the problem of constitutional reform. Efforts by members of the national assembly to amend the constitution to include a clause on impeachment of the President, has been fiercely resisted by Kumba Yalla, who came to power in 2000.

The increased decline in the economy has forced the country’s unpredictable army to go haywire. There have been repeated rumours of military coup or some form of army insurrection.

Two weeks ago, Yalla held talks with disgruntled military chiefs in an attempt to save his government from collapse.

The army, which is owed six months of pay arrears, had also been upset by the dismissal of defence minister Marcelino Cabral on Apr. 21 and his subsequent arrest.

Agneto Regalia, director of the privately-owned FM Bombolom radio, says "I don’t believe the elections will take place in July as scheduled. This government is cash-strapped and just can’t conduct-elections successfully."

Regalia, whose radio has been on-off the air because of government crackdown, has warned of difficult times ahead.

"We are sitting on a time bomb. There are strikes everywhere and threats of coups. I think that the elections themselves are threatened", says Regalia.

At the moment, though, the opposition has been gearing for the elections. An opposition supporter, Inayas Pinto Alverez says she is not even sure the elections will take place.

"We can’t talk about elections under such circumstances. The country is broke and there is clear voter apathy. How then can free and fair elections be conducted?" she wonders.

Guinea-Bissau, which won its independence from Portugal in 1974, is unstable. The city itself is in a state of panic and people are worried that the system may collapse once again, if the international community does not intervene.