Civil society organizations from Senegal and Guinea-Bissau are calling on ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) to ensure that the elected president is installed, after the national electoral commission has been paralysed following a military coup d’état on 26 November.
The Sénégalese and Bissau-Guinean civil society groups — including Afrikajom Center (Alioune Tine), Frente Popular (Armando Lona), Africtivistes (Cheikh Fall), and Sen_CADDHU (Senghane Senghor) — demand the immediate proclamation of the results of the 23 November 2025 presidential election in Guinea-Bissau. They say that only this step will respect the will of the people and restore the constitutional order that was suspended by the 26 November military takeover.
Their demand comes as the National Electoral Commission (CNE) is completely paralysed. On 2 December, the CNE said it was totally unable to conclude the electoral process after its offices were ransacked and all documents and computers — including original vote tallying reports — were seized. About 45 people were in the offices during the attack, including staff, executive secretariat members, political party representatives, and assistant prosecutors.
According to Idriça Djalo, the CNE’s deputy executive secretary, the vandalism destroyed servers and national counting software, making official results impossible to announce. This contradicts assurances from Foreign Minister João Bernardo Vieira, who had said the results could be published after data was transmitted to ECOWAS.
Despite these difficulties, the civil society groups want ECOWAS to exert firm pressure on the military rulers to guarantee the proclamation of the results and the installation of the elected president. They note that other copies of the tally reports exist in regional commissions and can legally complete the process.
The organizations condemn “all unconstitutional ways of taking power” and call the coup a “crime against democracy and the sovereignty of the people.” They also demand the immediate release of all arrested people, including Domingos Simões Pereira, and that the military return to their barracks and submit to the authority of the elected president.
The new military authorities, led by General Horta N’Tam, justify their actions by saying they prevented conflict and have instituted a one-year transition, which was announced at an ECOWAS Heads of State conference scheduled for 14 December. However, they have not given firm guarantees about releasing political detainees or returning the documents needed to conclude the vote.
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