By Paul Ejime
After the unpopular decision by ECOWAS leaders, who recommended “a short transition programme” in response to the military coup in Guinea-Bissau, the European Parliament has demanded the publication of the results of the 23rd November parliamentary and presidential elections in that country.
Observers and commentators believe that President Umaro Sissoso Embaló stage-managed the 26th November military coup to stop the electoral process, because he was losing the presidential vote.
In a Resolution, RC-B10-0568/2025 on 17 December, “on the grave political situation in Guinea-Bissau after the coup of 26 November,” the EU Parliament “calls on Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission to publish the verified electoral results without military or political interference.”
The Parliament also “urges the EU to immediately review its agreements and funding, ensure that cooperation funds do not strengthen the junta and other authoritarian structures, and prioritise support for democratic civil society.”
In reaching their decisions, the European MPs noted that the general elections were held in Guinea-Bissau, with “the main opposition party, PAIGC… barred from running,” while “a military group, led by General Horta N’Tam, seized power… illegally suspending the electoral process on the eve of the official announcement of the election results.”
“…Whereas the ties between the coup leader and the incumbent, President Embaló, have raised serious allegations that the coup was orchestrated to pre-empt an electoral defeat,” and despite the call on the authorities to publish the election results, the EU Parliament said: “the military junta has imposed a severe crackdown on civil liberties, and human rights violations have been reported against protesters and journalists, with at least 18 people arbitrarily detained, among them government officers, magistrates and political opposition leaders.”
It noted that “political opposition leaders were arrested on the day of the coup, and have since been held incommunicado, without access to legal defence,” while the “presidential candidate Fernando Dias da Costa has taken refuge at the Nigerian embassy; …whereas President Embaló was allowed to leave the country.”
The EU Parliament “unequivocally condemns the military’s seizure of power …and the interruption to the electoral process; rejects the unconstitutional change of government, and calls for the immediate restoration of Guinea-Bissau’s constitutional order and electoral process.”
It “strongly condemns the disproportionate use of force by security forces against the population; calls on all parties to refrain from acts of violence; calls for an independent investigation into human rights violations, and for those responsible for the coup, and for human rights violations to be held accountable.”
The EU Parliament further “demands the immediate and unconditional release of political opposition leaders Domingos Simões Pereira, Octávio Lopes, Marciano Indi, Roberto Mbesba and all others arbitrarily detained,” and “denounces the junta’s violent repression of activists, journalists, human rights defenders and civil society; calls for the lifting of all restrictions on independent media and an end to all forms of persecution of civil society.”
The Parliament “urges inclusive political dialogue among all key stakeholders, with the support of regional actors, to implement structural reforms for strengthening democracy and the rule of law,” and also “calls on the (EU) Council to consider restrictive measures on those responsible for the coup and for widespread human rights violations.”
The President of the Parliament was urged “to forward this resolution to the (EU) Council, the (EU) Commission, the authorities of Guinea-Bissau, African regional organisations, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the United Nations.”
ECOWAS citizens and the rest of the international community had expected similar or more drastic measures from the West African regional bloc, but its leaders at their 14th December Summit in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, called for a nebulous “short transition programme led by an inclusive government” in Guinea-Bissau.
They also threatened to “impose targeted sanctions on all individuals or groups of persons that obstruct return to constitutional order through an inclusive process,” without mentioning Embaló or his military cahoots.
This was after they noted that the 23rd November elections “were reported as free, transparent and orderly” by international observers, and that the coup d’état “halted the electoral process… subverted the will of the electorate and disrupted the constitutional order.”
Embaló was evacuated to Dakar by Senegalese authorities on 28th November, from where he reportedly travelled to Congo-Brazzaville and Morocco.
Latest media reports said he eventually found his way back to Guinea-Bissau, while his wife has been charged in Lisbon by Portuguese authorities for alleged smuggling and money laundering after seizing five million euros inside a private plane she was travelling on.
The least that many expected from ECOWAS is to insist on the publication of the election results, like the EU Parliament has done.
Guinea-Bissau electoral Commission officials claimed after their intimidation and detention by the military junta that they could not proceed with the electoral process because armed men had invaded the Commission’s secretariat and carted away vital documents and equipment on the day of the coup.
However, IT and electoral experts, civil society groups and opposition figures believe the election results are available and can be produced with sufficient and consequential international pressure on the military junta.
By choosing what many consider a lame, easy if not complicit option, ECOWAS leaders have not only disappointed the international community but also laid a dangerous precedent, which could embolden political leaders to trash the electoral process and invite their allies in the armed forces to seize power on their behalf once election results are not in their favour, as Embaló has done.
The ECOWAS position fits into Embaló’s secret agenda and is tantamount to a death knell on elections, democracy and good governance in the region.
Already, five of 15 ECOWAS member states – Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau – are now under military rule. The first three have left the regional bloc to form the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, while the military ruler in Guinea plans transitional elections on 28 December (later this month), after changing the national constitution to run in the presidential race.
The resurgence of military coups in Africa, and particularly politically restive West Africa, is blamed largely on the undemocratic dispositions/attitudes of the political leaders.
Unless and until these leaders change their authoritarian ways, such as “constitutional and ballot box coups,” flagrant violation of human rights, greed, corruption, cronyism, suppression of opposition, the media and civil society groups, democracy and good governance will remain a mirage.
Paul Ejime is a Media/Communications Specialist and Global Affairs Analyst
Guinea-Bissau Coup: European Parliament Shows ECOWAS The Way
