2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état

General elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 23 November 2025 to elect the president and members of the National People's Assembly. Civil society groups and other observers questioned the vote's credibility after the main opposition party, the PAIGC, was barred from contesting the presidential election. African Union observers, however, were present. Both the incumbent president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa claimed victory in the presidential election. The coup occurred while official results of the vote were yet to be released on 27 November. This is the ninth coup or attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974, with the last successful coup being in 2012; the two most recent coup attempts, in 2022 and 2023, also targeted Embaló, while there were also allegations of a coup plot at the end of October 2025. The last coup attempt in 2023 prompted him to dissolve the Assembly and rule by decree, although critics had accused him of manufacturing crises as an excuse to crack down on the opposition. ==Coup==

On 26 November 2025, the day before the expected official election result was to be announced, and at the National Electoral Commission, forcing hundreds to flee the affected areas. An international election monitor also said the head of the electoral commission had been arrested, with the commission's headquarters also having been sealed off by the military. At the army headquarters, military officers, led by a spokesman and head of the military household at the presidential palace, Brigadier General Dinis Incanha, announcing that they had taken "total control" over the country, The officers announced the formation of the "High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order" composed of all branches of the armed forces that would lead the country until further notice and urged citizens to remain calm. In the evening, the government of Senegal announced Embaló's arrival in the country, adding that it had negotiated with figures in Guinea-Bissau for his release and chartered an aircraft to transport him. The Senegalese Foreign Ministry affirmed that Embaló was "safe and sound". Embalo relocated to the Republic of the Congo shortly afterwards. On 28 November, the High Military Command appointed finance minister Ilídio Vieira Té, the campaign director of Embalo's Madem G15 party in the recent election, as prime minister. His cabinet was introduced the next day. On 4 December, the High Military Command announced the formation of a National Transitional Council and said it would draft a Transitional Charter to replace the Judicial Council. The charter was published on 9 December. Among its provisions were a ban on Inta-a and Vieira Té from participating in future elections. On 22 January 2026, the High Military Command issued a decree authorising elections for the legislature and the presidency to be held on 6 December 2026, after it deemed that "all the conditions for organising free, fair and transparent elections have been met". ==Reactions==

Domestic The PAIGC called for protests against the coup and for the release of the election results. On 29 November, the party said its headquarters in Bissau was "illegally invaded by heavily armed militia groups". Protests were held demanding the release of Domingos Simões Pereira and the election results, while three civil society groups called for a general strike and a civil disobedience campaign to restore "electoral truth". but was placed under house arrest. That same day, Dias was allowed to leave the Nigerian embassy. Both politicians refused offers by the junta to take part in the transitional government. The Popular Front, a civil society coalition in Guinea-Bissau, accused Embaló and the army of staging a "simulated coup" to prevent the release of election results and remain in power for Embaló to name a new president and prime minister that would hold new elections in which he could run again for president. The AU condemned the coup and urged the immediate and unconditional release of Embalo and other detained officials. On 27 November, ECOWAS suspended Guinea-Bissau's membership in the bloc, The AU followed suit the next day. ECOWAS deployed a delegation led by Sierra Leonean president Julius Maada Bio to Bissau to negotiate with the military on a return to constitutional order and the completion of the electoral process. Portugal, Guinea-Bissau's former colonial power, urged "all parties involved to refrain from any institutional or civic violence" and "to restore the regular functioning of institutions to allow the completion of the vote count and the announcement of the election results." Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko questioned the authenticity of the coup, calling it a "sham" and urging the release of the arrested opposition politicians and the election results. reflected those concerns, calling it a "ceremonial coup" and questioning why Embaló was the first to announce his own overthrow rather than the coup leaders, in contrast with other coups in the region. ==See also==