Guinea-Bissau votes in watershed elections

 

The impoverished country has been stagnating for two years under the rule of a transitional government backed by the all-powerful military, with the economy anaemic and cocaine trafficking fuelling corruption.

 

"We have a commitment that we all aspire to live in a new country, a country of justice, a country of freedom," Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, president of the commission of regional bloc ECOWAS, said on the eve of the vote. 

 

Chronic volatility has fanned poverty in the country of 1.6 million with few resources other than cashew nuts and fish, attracting South American drug cartels which have turned it into a hub of cocaine trafficking for west Africa.

 

The drug trade and the money it generates have corrupted all of Guinea-Bissau's public institutions, in particular the armed forces, whose senior officers are accused of involvement in trafficking.

 

The United States charged 2012 coup leader Antonio Indjai in April last year with drug trafficking and seeking to sell arms to Colombian FARC rebels, while former navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was arrested by US federal agents in waters off west Africa last year as he was allegedly about to receive a large shipment of cocaine.

 

"The new government will have to call into question the privileges enjoyed by senior military officers and carefully resume the security sector reforms that prompted the army to stage the coup," said Vincent Foucher, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.

 

"This time round, the government should proceed with caution and seek compromise to avoid a violent reaction from the army."

  

- Security sector reforms -

  

Thirteen politicians have been seeking to convince the people of Guinea-Bissau that they can stand up to the generals and reform the armed forces as the new president, while 15 parties are fielding candidates for parliamentary seats.

 

Among the presidential hopefuls are political heavyweights such as former finance minister Jose Mario Vaz, and Abel Incada, a member of the Party for Social Renewal of former president Kumba Yala, who died last week. 

 

The dark horse, however, could be 50-year-old independent candidate Paulo Gomes, an unusual proposition in a political landscape hitherto dominated by political grandees who made their names during the war of independence. 

 

A gifted economist who has spent most of his life working abroad, including as the leader of the World Bank's sub-Saharan Africa division, he believes he has the know-how to begin to turn around the country's fortunes.

 

The much-delayed elections are the first since Antonio Indjai, a former army chief of staff, agreed in May 2012 to hand power to a civilian transitional regime headed by President Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo.

 

Although campaigning ended on Friday with no major security incident, polling is being supervised by 4,200 Bissau-Guinean and west African soldiers.

 

More than 500 international observers will decide whether voting has been free and credible.

 

Guinea-Bissau is ranked 177th out of 187 in the UN human development index, and two-thirds of the population are living below the poverty line.

 

The ICG has urged donors to be ready after the election to help the government pay immediate expenses, including public sector wages, provide long-term funding for development programmes and push for improved economic governance.

 

If no clear winner emerges, a presidential runoff is scheduled on May 18.