Guinea-Bissau votes in referendum to expand presidential powers

Voters in military-run Guinea-Bissau cast their ballots on Sunday in a referendum that could give the president more powers ahead of a general election meant to restore civilian rule later this year.

Voting got off to a slow start in some neighbourhoods when polls opened at 0700 GMT, AFP correspondents said, after a heavy early morning downpour.

Security was stepped up at strategic points in the capital, with members of the national guard and the police stationed at key locations.

Voting closes at 1700 GMT, with the first provisional results due from Tuesday.

The referendum comes less than 10 months after a coup in which the military seized power in the impoverished Portuguese-speaking west African country.

Shopkeeper Halimatou Traore told AFP she hoped the new constitution would bring positive changes.

"The successive crises the country has gone through have had a very negative impact on my earnings. If everything goes well, Guinea-Bissau will set off on new paths," she said as she waited to vote.

Braima Seidy, 76, a veteran of the war of independence against Portugal, emerged smiling from the polling booth.

"I truly believe that this new Constitution can bring stability to the country," he told AFP.

The junta says the change seeks to stabilise institutions before new presidential and parliamentary elections designed to hand power back to civilians scheduled for December 6.

But the political climate is tense in the coup-prone coastal nation, where the opposition has urged voters to boycott the referendum "in a context of restrictions on public freedoms".

Presidential system

The ruling junta has unanimously approved a constitutional amendment for the country to switch to a presidential system from a parliamentary one, and now the public will be asked to back it.

The new text proposes abandoning the old system whereby the prime minister came from the parliamentary majority, which has led to uncomfortable power-sharing.

It would also allow the head of state to appoint and dismiss the prime minister and members of the government, and to dissolve parliament.

On Sunday, voters will answer "yes" or "no" to the question: "Do you agree with the entry into force of the new constitution approved by the National Transitional Council?"

After the junta seized power last November it appointed General Horta N'Tam as transitional president, under a transitional charter which bars him from running for election.

The army took over power just days after a presidential election, overthrowing then-president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and suspending the electoral process.

Following 2023 legislative elections, Embalo himself dissolved the opposition-dominated parliament in response to what he described as an attempted coup.

He then ruled by decree until he was ousted by the army.

Guinea-Bissau, which is one of the world's poorest countries, has experienced five coups and a series of attempted coups since 1974.

Its referendum follows a string of other African countries including Zimbabwe and Chad that have amended their constitutions in recent years to extend term lengths, remove age limits or strengthen powers of the executive.