Guinea-Bissau Counts Votes on Referendum to Expand Presidency

Vote counting is underway in Guinea-Bissau after a referendum that would shift the country from a semi-parliamentary system to a strong presidential regime.

Voting ended Sunday at 5:00 pm local time in Guinea-Bissau's constitutional referendum, and ballot counting began immediately across the military-run country. Voters were asked a yes-or-no question: whether they agreed with the entry into force of the new constitution approved by the National Transitional Council. Security was stepped up at strategic points in the capital, with members of the national guard and police stationed at key locations. Idrissa Djalo, executive secretary of the National Electoral Commission, said turnout exceeded 55 percent and that voting took place overall without incidents that would call the credibility of the vote into question. The first provisional results are expected from Tuesday. The referendum came less than ten months after the military seized power on November 26, 2025, suspending the electoral process just before provisional results of the November 23 presidential and legislative elections were due to be announced.

The proposed constitution would replace the semi-parliamentary system with a strong presidential regime. It abandons the model in which the prime minister came from the parliamentary majority, which produced difficult power-sharing, and instead lets the head of state appoint and dismiss the prime minister and government members and dissolve parliament. The Associated Press reports the transitional authorities also propose trimming parliament from 102 to 65 seats, arguing smaller chambers would allow more robust debates while clarifying that the president outranks the prime minister. Junta leader and transitional president General Horta N'Tam, who is barred from running under the transitional charter, said the change should let whoever wins the December 6 elections serve their mandate without hindrance. The referendum follows a pattern, coming after Zimbabwe, Guinea, Togo, Uganda and Chad amended constitutions in recent years to extend terms or strengthen executives.

The opposition, including the historic PAIGC that led Guinea-Bissau to independence, urged voters to boycott the referendum, denouncing a vote held in a context of restrictions on public freedoms and a tense political climate. Muniro Conté, spokesperson for the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, told The Associated Press that the text weakens the prime minister and government, subordinates the National People's Assembly and political parties, and devalues the popular will expressed at the polls. In five Bissau polling stations visited by AFP, voters arrived irregularly in small numbers, with morning rain keeping turnout low-key; conditions were mixed or low in Tombali, Quinara and the east. Abubacar Ture, president of the Guinea-Bissau League for Human Rights, called the concentration of power in one man dangerous for the country's democracy.

The referendum is a crucial step toward the December 6 presidential and parliamentary elections that the junta says will return power to civilians, though Guinea-Bissau's political climate remains tense. Nearly 915,000 voters were registered for the referendum, according to The Associated Press, and skepticism runs deep: analysts say the military government lacks the legitimacy to rewrite the constitution, and Bissau residents interviewed voiced unfamiliarity with the text or outright disapproval. The country of about 2.2 million people, one of the world's poorest but with the highest proportion of natural wealth per capita in West Africa according to the World Bank, has suffered five coups since 1974 and is a drug-trafficking hub experts say fuels instability.