I talk about the government system of Guinea-Bissau from executive to legislative and how elections work in the country.

1. Post author By Charlie December 10, 2020
The Government System of Guinea-Bissau
theweeklyrambler.com/the-government-system-of-guinea-bissau/
Guinea-Bissau is a country located on
the West African coast and is
bordered with Senegal and Guinea as
well as having a coast along the
Atlantic Ocean where it has numerous
islands. Its capital city is easy to
remember as it is included in the
country’s name, Bissau, and this port
city is located on the Geba River
which gives access to the Atlantic
Ocean.
Guinea-Bissau’s early history is not
too well recorded but it was once part
of the Kingdom of Kaabu which was
also a part of the Mali Empire from
the 16 Century, the Kingdom
of Kaabu existed in parts until at least
the 18 Century. The Portuguese begun setting up trading posts along the coast from
the 16 Century for slave trading, local African rulers did not allow the Portuguese
colonists into the interior of the land, although eventually by the 19 Century they had
explored it and incorporated the land into their colonial empire as Portuguese Guinea.
The British had attempted to set up a rival foothold on the island of Bolama, although it
had little effect.
The Portuguese kept control of the land for a very long time until movements for
independence begun in 1956, with an armed rebellion. The war was started by Amilcar
Cabral via the formation of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape
Verde, who slowly consolidated control over Portuguese Guinea, causing the Guinea-
Bissau War of Independence from 1963, using effective guerilla warfare in the thick
jungle and harsh terrains as well as being aided by countries such as the Soviet Union
and Cuba. There was a slight setback for the group in January 1973 when Cabral was
assassinated, but independence was declared in September 1973, although wasn’t
accepted by Portugal until April 1974 after the Estado Novo regime was overthrown by a
socialist inspired military coup.
Amilcar’s brother, Luis Cabral was appointed as the newly independent country’s first
president, the country became Guinea-Bissau to distinguish it from the other Guinea.
Soon after this the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde forces
committed mass genocide against thousands of Guinean soldiers in the country who
th
th
th
th
1/10

2. had fought alongside Portuguese forces. A revolutionary council was set-up and ruled
the country until 1984. The country eventually held its first multi-party democratic
elections since independence, held in 1994, but it would not be long before political
turmoil would engulf the country, which still remains a problem until this day, an Army
uprising in 1998 which caused the Guinea-Bissau Civil War led to the ousting of the
President the following year.
Fresh elections were held in 2000, but again another military coup in 2003 would lead
to the elected President Lala being arrested by the armed forces for failing to solve the
problems, legislative elections were then delayed several times before being held in
March 2004, but a presidential election was not held until June 2005, in this election
Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was overthrown by the armed forces in the Guinea-Bissau
civil war, returned and won the election. Vieira ruled until 2009 where he was
assassinated, reportedly performed by rebellious soldiers in revenge of the death of the
joint chiefs of staff, who had been killed in an explosion on the day before.
After a time of interim leadership new elections put Malm Bacai Sanha in charge who
led until January 2012 where he died from diabetes complications. There was a short
period of interim president leadership which was ended by another military coup with
soldiers also arresting the top presidential candidate and suspending the country’s
constitution. Since then, the country has continued to face political turmoil, with only
one president ever serving a full 5-year term so far. The country’s constitution was
restored in 2014 after negotiations and the country has returned to democratic
elections.
The country is made up of many ethnic groups, with the three largest being the
Mandinka, Balanta and, Fula. The official language is Portuguese although much of the
country does not speak it as a first language, the national language of Creole is a much
wider spoken first language, many also speak various other native African languages.
The largest religion is Islam, although there is also a significant number of Christians as
well. The country’s currency is the West African CFA franc which it uses alongside
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The
country’s population is closing in on 2 million.
Government Type
2/10

3. Emblem of Guinea-Bissau. By DzWiki from Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0.Source.
Guinea-Bissau is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic with a
President as Head of State and a Prime Minister as Head of Government. The National
People’s Assembly, a unicameral chamber, makes up the legislative government.
Multiple parties are allowed. For parties to form they must respect the national
independence and unity, integrity of national territory and the pluralist democracy, and
must follow democratic rules in their organisation and functioning.
Parties cannot be formed on local or regional nature, cannot sponsor racism or
tribalism, or advocate for violence means to achieve their ends.
The Executive Government
3/10

4. Presidential Palace, residence of the President of Guinea-Bissua. Photo by jbdodane from
Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Source.
Presidential Duties
The President is the Head of State, overlooking the executive power and representing
the country abroad in diplomacy and foreign affairs. The President must also defend the
country’s constitution. The President has the power to make addresses to the Nation or
the National People’s Assembly. The President has the power to summon an
extraordinary session of the National People’s Assembly when imperious public interest
reasons justify it. The President also ratifies international treaties and agreements.
The President can also appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister. Appointing the Prime
Minister takes into the account the largest party or grouping in the National People’s
Assembly, dismissal of the Prime Minister is based on whether the National People’s
Assembly remains confident with the Prime Minister or not.
The President presides over the Council of State, an advisory body that guides and gives
advice on various actions taken by the President, executive power and the legislative
power. Its members include the Prime Minister, the President of the Supreme Tribunal
of Justice, a representative of every political party that has a seat in the National
People’s Assembly, and five citizens assigned by the President for the duration of its
term.
The President confirms the appointments of justices, made by the Superior Council of
Magistrates, to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. The President accredits international
ambassadors.
4/10

5. It is the job of the President to enact laws, legal-decrees and other decrees as guided by
the Constitution. The President has the power to pardon and commute sentences. Can
declare war or make peace as guided by the constitution.
The President can also, under extraordinary circumstances guided by the constitution,
declare martial law or a state of emergency to the effect of limiting certain rights and
freedoms and giving extra powers to authorities, to bring a situation such as external or
internal threats or natural disasters under control.
The President can choose to dissolve the National People’s Assembly for fresh elections
due to grave political crises, after consultation with the President of the National
People’s Assembly and the present political parties. The Assembly cannot be dissolved
until 12-months has passed from the start of its term, or if there is six-months of a
presidential mandate left, it also cannot be dissolved during martial law or state of
emergency.
The President promulgates legislation passed by the National People’s Assembly but
can choose to veto it if he disagrees with parts of the bill or the whole of the bill and
then send it back to the parliament, the parliament can override a veto by an affirmative
vote of at least two-thirds of members, meaning the President will have to promulgate
it.
Presidential Absence
If the President is absent abroad or has a temporary impediment then the President of
the National People’s Assembly will become substitute leader until the President
returns. The President of the National People’s Assembly will assume the functions of
the presidency if the President dies or is definitively impaired, until a new President is
elected.
The interim president is limited on certain powers, such as being unable to appoint or
dismiss the Prime Minister; unable to appoint and dismiss members of Cabinet; unable
to preside over the Council of Ministers; unable to confirm Justices to the Supreme
Tribunal of Justice; unable to appoint or dismiss the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces;
unable to enact laws, legal-decrees and other decrees; unable to impose martial law or
declare a state of emergency; unable to grant honorific titles and state awards. Can also
not dissolve the National People’s Assembly, cannot dismiss the Government and
cannot enact or veto legislation.
Presidential Removal
As we have seen the country has been pretty good at removing their president, although
it has never been done by the correct constitutional functions.
The correct way of removing the president can only be carried out if there is belief
and/or evidence that the President has committed crimes in office that has involved
using presidential powers, which can include breaking the constitution. The process
begins with needing at least one-third of members to propose such an action and then it
5/10

6. must be adopted by at least two-thirds of members, which will then require the
General-Attorney of the Republic to promote the prosecution to the Supreme Tribunal
of Justice who shall decide on conviction, if the President is convicted, they will be
removed from office and barred from running for the presidency again.
Prime Minister and Government
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government, appointed by the President after the
results of parliamentary elections. The Prime Minister advises the President on who to
appoint and dismiss as/from cabinet positions. The Prime Minister also advises on
the dissolution and creation of ministries and secretariats of state.
It is important for the Prime Minister and the members of Government to maintain
confidence of the National People’s Assembly to remain in power.
The Prime Minister and Government implements the general policies of the country in
accordance with its Governmental Program, which is approved by the Assembly. The
Prime Minister coordinates Government and executes laws. The Prime Minister must
inform the President on all issues regarding internal and external politics.
The Council of Ministers, the highest decision-making body of the executive
government, is headed by the Prime Minister and presided over by the President, when
appropriate, otherwise it is presided over by the Prime Minister.
The Government advises the President on appointment and dismissal from positions
including the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces; the General-Attorney of the Republic;
and Ambassadors.
Other jobs of the Government include guiding the Public Administration, coordinating
and controlling activities of the Ministries and other Bodies of Central and Local
governments; organizing and directing political, economic, cultural, scientific, social,
defense and security activities in accordance with the Governmental Plan; to prepare
the General State Budget and National Development Plan, approved by the National
People’s Assembly, and then executed by the Government; legislate via means of Legal-
decrees, and decrees over matters that concern government organization and
functioning, including on matters not reserved to the Assembly; approve and submit
government bills to the National People’s Assembly; negotiate and conclude
international treaties and agreements; and nominate and propose nominations to civil
and military positions.
The Legislative Government
6/10

7. Meeting place of the National People’s Assembly. Photo by Colleen Taugher from Flickr. CC
BY 2.0. Source.
The National People’s Assembly, also called the National Popular Assembly, is the
unicameral chamber that makes up the legislative government. The main job of it as
with all is to have legislation introduced to it, to debate and possibly amend such
legislation and either pass or reject it. The National People’s Assembly also oversees the
actions of the executive government and scrutinizes them. The National People’s
Assembly currently has 102 members. The Government and members of the Assembly
can introduce legislation.
The Government has the right to issue a legal-decree to get authorization to legislate on
certain matters exclusive to the National People’s Assembly.
Members of the National People’s Assembly have the right to present enquiries to the
Government, either orally or in writing, and must be answered within the session or by
a delay of 15-days, if further investigation is needed.
The Assembly can expel members who are in breach of their duties. Members who
become a Government member must vacate their seat during that time.
After parliamentary elections at the first session of the legislative term, the members of
the National People’s Assembly will elect the President of the National People’s
Assembly and its Board, which includes a first and second Vice-President and a first
7/10

8. and second secretary. It is the job of the President of the Assembly to maintain orderly
debate and conduct and to also enforce Assembly bylaws, these bylaws, which are made
by the Assembly itself, determine the function of the Assembly’s Board.
Other Duties
The National People’s Assembly also has various other duties that include reviewing the
constitutionality of matters as guided by the constition; decide on popular referendums;
approve the governmental program; votes of confidence and censorship votes against
the Government; approval of General State Budget and National Development Plan;
approve certain treaties, such as those that involve participation of the nation in
international organisations, friendship treaties, peace treaties, defense treaties, treaties
of frontier rectification, and any other treaties the government deems appropriate to
submit for its review; authorizes the President to declare war or make peace; grant
government legislative authority; ratify decrees approved by the Government through
delegated legislative powers; review State’s budget for each business year; grant
amnesty; and government oversight.
A confidence vote is triggered by the Prime Minister, after consultation with the Council
of Ministers, while a censorship vote against the government is brought about by at least
one-third of members, the failure to achieve confidence or the approval of a censorship
motion by an absolute majority will lead to the dismantling of Government.
Topical committees can be created as well as the establishment of temporary
committees to deal with specific topics.
Extraordinary sessions can be called by either the President of the Republic, members
of the Assembly, the Government or the Assembly’s Standing Committee (the
committee that operates and represents the Assembly outside of its sessions).
The Electoral System
Photo by Golbez from Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 2.5.Source.
8/10

9. Presidential elections are meant to happen every 5-years although have often been
called early or later due to political turmoil. The president is elected via a two-round
system where a candidate requires an absolute majority of votes in the 1 round to win
outright otherwise a 2 round is held between the top two candidate which is won by
simple majority.
The President cannot serve three consecutive mandates, nor during the five year’s
following a 2 mandate. If the President has resigned from office that individual must
wait 5-year’s before running again in a presidential election.
To be a candidate for president one must be a voting citizen of Guinean origin and
children and parents of Guinean origin. The candidate must be over 35-years-old and in
full possession of their civil and political rights.
Parliamentary elections are held every 4-years to elect the 102 members of the National
People’s Assembly. 100 of the members are elected from multi-seat electoral districts
using a closed party-list proportional representation system when parties who reach a
certain threshold of the vote in a district are guaranteed seats. Another two-members
are elected from single-seat constituencies from citizens living abroad, one for Africa
and one for Europe, elected by first-past-the-post system.
Sources
The sources for this post come from Guinea-Bissau’s 1984 constitution with
amendments through to 1996 (constituteproject.org) and so should be as up to date as
possible but of course there is a chance I missed some things and that I misinterpreted
other things and the constitution can be amended and so this post may eventually
become outdated, so it is important to cross-research if using this in a serious capacity.
Amendments to the constitution can be proposed either by at least one-third of
members of the National People’s Assembly, by the Council of State or by the
Government. Passage requires at least a two-thirds majority in the Assembly. Articles
on republican and secular form of government and national sovereignty cannot be
amended.
Next up will be the government system of Guyana!
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find
my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler
on Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at
the bottom of this website. You can also use the social media buttons under each
blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to
Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes
up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email
st
nd
nd
9/10

10. notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB
Group The Weekly Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with
each other and also with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.
10/10