Former PM Emballo wins G/Bissau run-off
APA-Bissau (Guinea Bissau)
Former prime minister Umaru Sissoco Emballo has been declared the winner of Guinea Bissau’s presidential run-off election by the country’s electoral commission on Wednesday.
According to the electoral commission, 47-year old Emballo polled 53.55 percent of the vote ahead of his challenger Domingos Simoes Pereira who had 46.45 percent of the ballot.
Emballo’s victory heralds a power shift from the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) which had fielded Pereire as its candidate.
The president elect who is a Political Science degree holder, belongs to the Movement for Alternative Democratic (MADEM) which is a splinter of the independence party PAIGC.
He served as prime minister from November 2016 to January 2018.
His rival Pereira had won the first last November with 40.1 percent of the vote which saw then incumbent Jose Mario Vaz nestled in sixth place.
Last Sunday’s run-off was seen as a watershed exercise with many things at stake among them ending the political instability that has rocked Guinea Bissau for over 40 years.
WN/as/APA
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