Voters to replace slain president in Guinea-Bissau

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — A trickle of voters headed to the polls to choose this tiny African country’s next leader, less than four months after the president was assassinated and following a campaign marred by the killing of a candidate.

The March 2 shooting of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira was another setback for Guinea-Bissau, where the military has held sway over politicians for decades.

The poor West African country has suffered successive coups and upheavals since its 1974 independence from Portugal, and no president in 15 years has completed a full five-year term. Vieira’s killing also was thought to be political — linked to the death a day earlier of his longtime rival, the head of the armed forces, who was killed in a bomb blast.

Analysts said that while a sense of fear and insecurity lingers over the country of 1.5 million, Sunday’s ballot would likely be peaceful, with the real test coming afterward.

Among the 11 candidates running for top office, three former presidents were seen as front-runners. A 12th candidate was shot dead on June 5 by security forces, and the government claimed he had been plotting a coup.

Political apathy and even fear are strong in Guinea-Bissau, where drug money often flows to corrupt officials as cocaine smugglers pay bribes to use its coastline and remote airstrips.

Only a scarce number of voters could be seen heading to polling booths as they opened Sunday in the capital, and some said many people had left the country after Vieira’s assassination.

Others appeared to simply be staying home, adopting a wait-and-see approach to the leadership race. There were no lines at polling stations, unlike in most other African countries where voters often spend the night outside in an effort to be first to vote.

Bucking the trend, Agostino Ka said he voted in an effort to show the world Guinea-Bissau was a functioning democracy — 15 years after multiparty elections were established.

“I voted today because Guinea-Bissau has to show that we need peace like our neighboring countries,” said Ko, a 51-year-old doctor at the capital’s main hospital. “Guinea-Bissau should have transparent elections to convince the whole world.”

Others said they were skeptical the next president would be able to enforce the rule of law in a country where the judiciary is weak and the military mingles in politics.

“I have a lot of friends who voted in the last elections. But … they’ve left Bissau, even gone abroad, because of fear of what might happen,” lawyer Abel Gomes, 32, said.

“They just aren’t interested anymore. Because once you kill a democratically elected president you kill some part of democracy,” he said. “We have no protection.”

With the capital’s worn-out buildings festooned in colorful campaign posters promising peace and security, the candidates are mostly promising a break with the past and a return of democratic rule.

Leading the pack were three former presidents seeking to retake the post.

Malam Bacai Sanha, who was interim president for a year following a 1998-1999 civil war, is representing the main political party. His supporters chant his campaign slogan “The time is now!” while pointing at imaginary wrist watches — a gesture Sanha himself makes.

Kumba Yala, whose supporters wear his trademark red woolen hat, was elected president in 2000 but became deeply unpopular as the economy stagnated and civil servant salaries went unpaid. He was overthrown in a bloodless coup three years later.

Another former interim president, businessman Henrique Rosa, served after Yala was ousted and helped organize 2005 elections that brought Vieira to power.