Guinea-Bissau, a small Portuguese-speaking nation on West Africa's Atlantic coast, held a constitutional referendum on Sunday in which voters were asked to approve a new constitution that would significantly strengthen presidential powers — a vote organised nine months after the military seized control of the country and condemned by opposition parties as a rubber stamp for authoritarian rule.
The proposed constitution would transform Guinea-Bissau's existing semi-presidential system, in which executive authority is shared between the president and prime minister, into a strongly presidential one. Under the new text, the president would chair the Council of Ministers, appoint and dismiss the prime minister without being bound by parliamentary election results, and hold the power to dissolve parliament. The number of parliamentary seats would be reduced from 102 to 65, and the number of electoral constituencies cut from 29 to 12. Presidential candidates would also face new hurdles, including a deposit of 50 million West African CFA francs (roughly €76,000 or $90,000) and requirements that their sponsoring parties demonstrate at least 5,000 members across all regions.
Transitional authorities, led by General Horta Inta-A Na Man — who became interim president after the coup of 26 November 2025, staged one day before official election results were due — argue the reforms would resolve chronic institutional conflicts and bring political stability ahead of general elections scheduled for 6 December. The coup interrupted elections that had already taken place, with results still uncounted. Former president Umaro Sissoco Embaló, whose nearly six-year tenure was marked by repeated dissolution of parliament and disputes with the prime minister, was detained briefly before leaving the country; he remains in exile.
The main opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) — the historic liberation movement that led the country to independence from Portugal in 1974 — called the referendum