On the morning of November 26, 2025, as Guinea-Bissau’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) prepared to announce results from the country’s pivotal presidential and legislative elections, chaos erupted in the heart of Bissau. Armed soldiers stormed the CNE headquarters, seizing ballots, tally sheets, and computers before destroying the servers containing the voting data painstakingly collected from across the nation. Within hours, Guinea-Bissau—a nation long battered by coups and political intrigue—found itself plunged into another crisis, its fragile democracy once again hanging by a thread.
The attack, which left only the tally sheets from Bissau city intact, was the latest and most dramatic chapter in a saga of instability that has dogged the tiny West African state since its independence from Portugal in 1974. The military’s incursion came just a day before the CNE was set to publish the results of the November 23 elections, widely described by international observers as peaceful and orderly. Instead, the country awoke to a new reality: the electoral process had been violently interrupted, and the fate of its government was in limbo.
Idrissa Djalo, the deputy executive secretary of the CNE, addressed reporters on December 2, explaining, “We do not have the material and logistic conditions to follow through with the electoral process.” Djalo described how “armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the tabulation room,” arresting the CNE president and five Supreme Court judges, threatening dozens of agents, and destroying all the tally sheets except those from Bissau. “The main server was destroyed. The tally sheets from Oio and Cacheu, which were being transferred, were intercepted and confiscated by other men. All the equipment was destroyed,” Djalo told journalists, as reported by RFI.
Yet not everyone accepted this explanation. Opposition parties, notably those backing Fernando Dias da Costa of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), argued that the regional tabulation had already been completed and that copies of the minutes and other documents were in the hands of candidates, judicial authorities, and regional governors. “It is evident that conditions exist for the conclusion of the electoral process,” asserted the National Campaign Directorate for Dias. They demanded the “convening of the CNE plenary and the publication of the results,” accusing the CNE’s Executive Secretariat of collaborating with what they called a “coup d’état staged by” outgoing President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
As the dust settled, General Denis N’Canha, head of the Military Office at the presidency, appeared on state television to announce that the armed forces had seized power, citing an alleged plot by “drug lords” to destabilize the country’s democracy. The military imposed a strict night-dawn curfew and sealed Guinea-Bissau’s airport and borders, while sporadic gunfire echoed near the presidential palace. Within days, Embaló’s Chief of Presidential Guards, General Horta Inta-A, was sworn in as Transitional President, promising to govern for a year. Ilídio Vieira Té, a close Embaló ally and former campaign director, was named Prime Minister and Finance Minister, as a new 28-member cabinet was hastily assembled.
The international response was swift and severe. ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the African Union suspended Guinea-Bissau from all decision-making bodies, condemning what they described as an illegal change of government. On November 27, ECOWAS announced the suspension, and two days later, the African Union followed suit, declaring the country barred from all activities “until constitutional order is restored.”
Meanwhile, the fate of key political figures remained uncertain. Domingos Simões Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde (PAIGC) and president of the dissolved parliament, had been disqualified from contesting the election and was detained by the authorities. His party, which led the liberation struggle against Portuguese colonialism, had thrown its support behind Dias, who opposition parties claim secured more than 50% of the vote. Dias himself narrowly escaped capture and found asylum in the Nigerian embassy, while another MP, Marciano Indi, was detained at Bissau’s Osvaldo Vieira airport as he attempted to travel to an ECOWAS parliamentary session in Abuja.
Protests erupted not only in Bissau but also across the diaspora, with demonstrations in Paris, London, Porto, and São Paulo demanding the release of political prisoners and the publication of the election results. Guinea-Bissau’s Attorney General, Fernando Gomez, was among those still in detention as of early December, according to the Guinean League for Human Rights.
International observers, including delegations from ECOWAS, the African Union, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), and the West African Elders’ Forum, had all agreed that the November 23 elections were peaceful and orderly. The sudden military intervention shocked many, prompting speculation that Embaló, who has faced accusations of authoritarianism and had already survived multiple coup attempts since his 2020 inauguration, may have orchestrated the crisis to prevent the transfer of power after an unfavorable election outcome. As reported by People’s Daily and RFI, critics—including Senegal’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko—dismissed Embaló’s claim of being a coup victim as a “sham,” with Sonko insisting, “We want the electoral process to continue. The [electoral] commission must be allowed to declare the winner.”
Embaló’s own fate reflected the shifting political winds. After initially claiming to be under arrest while still communicating with international media, he fled to Senegal on November 27, only to face protests from both Senegalese citizens and the Guinea-Bissau diaspora. He soon departed for Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, as regional leaders debated how to respond to the unfolding crisis.
ECOWAS dispatched a high-level delegation led by Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio to Bissau in early December, seeking dialogue with the military rulers and pressing for a return to constitutional order. Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba described the talks as “productive,” though both sides remained entrenched in their positions. Civil society organizations in Guinea-Bissau have signed a pact demanding the publication of election results and the release of all detainees.
The situation remains tense as the ECOWAS summit, scheduled for December 14 in Abuja, approaches. Observers note that Guinea-Bissau’s semi-presidential system, which divides power between the president, prime minister, and parliament, has long been a source of confusion and conflict. Calls for security sector reform, implementation of the 2016 Conakry Accord, and an end to the country’s reputation as a hub for drug trafficking have grown louder in the wake of the latest crisis.
As Guinea-Bissau faces yet another uncertain chapter, the eyes of the region—and the world—are fixed on whether its leaders will choose the path of democracy or continue the cycle of coups and contested power that has defined its troubled history.