Guinea-Bissau voters approve new constitution expanding presidential powers

Guinea-Bissau voters have approved a new constitution, which critics say will undermine democracy, that significantly expands presidential powers ahead of elections due in December.

According to provisional results, 70% of voters approved sweeping changes in the tiny west African state’s first constitutional amendment since revisions that ended the one-party socialist state more than three decades ago.

The turnout for Sunday’s referendum was reportedly over 55%, amounting to an estimated 544,060 people.

The new constitution will reduce the number of seats in parliament from 102 to 65 and cut electoral constituencies from 29 to 12. New provisions will require presidential candidates to have lived continuously in the country for at least five years before the vote, which is believed to target diaspora-based politicians with significant followings.

The referendum’s outcome is expected to pave the way for December’s elections, which many hope will steady the political landscape in Guinea-Bissau, which has been through a series of politically turbulent periods since its declaration of independence from Portugal was globally recognised in 1974. Since then it has had at least 10 coup attempts, half of which have been successful.

The most recent came after last November’s disputed presidential elections. Both candidates declared themselves winners, citing electoral malpractice by the other’s camp. The military forcefully intervened, setting up a transitional ruling council headed by Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man, a former military chief of general staff.

Na Man said: “What we want after this referendum is to allow whoever wins the elections to see out their mandate without hindrance.”

Nelson Moreira, the second vice-president of the transitional council, said the outgoing constitution, which came into effect in 1993, had often been cited as “the cause of instability in Guinea”.

The leading opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which was barred from fielding a presidential candidate in the 2025 election, had asked its supporters to boycott the referendum, which it called a democratic farce.

“What will happen on 30 August is the continuation of the coup d’état carried out on 26 November,” its leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, had said.