Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission has said it could not complete the November 23 presidential election process after armed individuals seized ballots and vote tallies from its offices, while servers storing the results were destroyed.
Army officers in the West African country took control on November 26, a day before the Electoral Commission was scheduled to announce the results of the contested election.
“We do not have the material and logistic conditions to follow through with the electoral process,” Idrissa Djalo, a senior official of the electoral commission, said in a statement.
The Electoral Commission’s offices and other buildings were reportedly attacked during the takeover. Major-General Horta Inta-a was sworn in as transitional president on November 27, halting the election process. Inta-a has promised a one-year transitional period.
The new military leadership has faced pressure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to restore constitutional order and allow the electoral process to resume.
A high-level delegation from ECOWAS, led by Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, met with the military leaders and electoral commission officials in Bissau on Monday.
Djalo said the commission informed the delegation that unidentified armed and hooded individuals stormed its premises on November 26.
“They confiscated the computers of all 45 staff members who were at the commission that day.”
He said that election tally sheets from the different regions were seized and the server storing results was destroyed.
“It is impossible to complete the electoral process without the tally sheets from the regions,” Djalo noted.
ECOWAS leaders, who have threatened sanctions against those disrupting constitutional order, are scheduled to meet on December 14 to discuss the situation.
Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq