Guinea-Bissau – Cohabitation?

Bissau Digital is reporting that Carlos Gomes Júnior, President of the PAIGC, the party that won a comfortable majority in last month’s elections, is the current prime minister-designate in Guinea-Bissau. Previously, Mr Gomes Júnior served as prime minister from 10 May 2004-2 Nov 2005. He was, in effect, sacked a month after the current president, Nino Vieira, took office in October 2005. President Vieira, a PAIGC dissident, won the 2005 election against the official PAIGC candidate. After he assumed office, the tension with Mr Gomes Júnior was too great and the president soon appointed a loyal supporter Aristides Gomes as his replacement.

Interestingly, from an SP perspective, the same article talks about the impending ‘cohabitation’ between President Nino Vieira and Mr Gomes Júnior. This points to a ‘vulgarisation’ of this specifically semi-presidential term in ordinary political discourse. That said, given President Vieira is an ex-PAIGC member and that his supporters may well be found in a future cabinet, then, according to the use of term in this blog, it is possible that, as things stand, there will not be a period of cohabitation. (In other words, there are likely to be presidential supporters in the cabinet coalition).

In a separate development, jeuneafrique reports that the presumed mastermind of the apparent assassination attempt on President Vieira life, Alexandre Tchama Yala, has been arrested by Senegalese police, though the details are still sketchy.

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