With Guinea-Bissau in political turmoil since last year's November legistlative and presidential elections and subsequent coup, distrust and anger are rife among the country's opposition parties.

"There is clear evidence that the deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, himself is behind this so-called coup," former Justice Minister Carmelita Pires told DW.

She said there were indications that opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa had won the presidential election by a wide margin — an outcome Embalo, who was also running, was unwilling to accept. She explained that preventing the official announcement of the election results had, therefore, become a priority.

A group of generals seized power on November 26, 2025, one day before the election results were due.

Led by General Horta Inta-A Na Man, the group claimed they wanted to protect the country from drug cartelsand their alleged influence over politics.

"This coup served one purpose only. To prepare Sissoco Embalo's return to power," said Pires, who has been living in Portugalsince the military takeover. All of the coup leaders, she argued, were from the former president's inner circle.

Embalo has since withdrawn from public view and his exact whereabouts are unknown. After the coup, he traveled with his entourage to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congoand a few days later, he reportedly found refuge in Morocco.

A country in limbo

The legislative elections were declared null and void. They had already been controversial because the largest opposition party, the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), had been barred on legal grounds.

Since then, the country has been left without functioning state institutions. The only authority in place is the military command, which is governing the country "like a feudal lord," according to Pires.

In recent weeks, all political activities have been banned, including demonstrations and strikes. Party headquarters have been closed, the Constitutional Court suspended, and press conferences without prior authorization prohibited.Numerous civil society activists and politicians have been arrested, including Domingos Simoes Pereira, the leader of the PAIGC, who has been held for more than 60 days at a police station in the capital, Bissau.

For his daughter, Denisa Pereira, the situation is intolerable.

"Everyone knows that the conditions under which my father is being held are inhumane," she told DW. She also criticized the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), accusing it of inaction.

"I ask myself what role ECOWAS still plays at all. Its representatives had the opportunity to see my father's detention conditions for themselves but chose not to visit him in his cell. What more has to happen?"

At the start of a protest against the constitutional coup of November 26,  Mariano Quade, who played a major role in Fernando Dias da Costa's presidential campaign, called for a military intervention by ECOWASto restore democratic order. Failure to act, he warned, would result in a total loss of credibility for the regional bloc.

"A military intervention is the last remaining option for ECOWAS," Quade told Portuguese news agency Lusa in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

"In a situation involving a coup d'etat and a policy of zero tolerance toward putschist regimes, ECOWAS has only one path. The use of force to return power to the people," he added.

Fresh elections in December?

International pressure on the military regime has been mounting and Guinea-Bissau has been suspended by the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). In response, the military leadership has adopted a seemingly conciliatory tone, announcing this month that elections would be held on December 6, and that constitutional order would be restored.

But for some, the holding of elections this year appears increasingly unrealistic. The president of Guinea-Bissau's National Electoral Commission (CNE), N'pabi Cabi, has informed the interim president that the commission has financial constraints and cannot organize elections without acquiring new equipment.

"In the remote town of Bafata, for example, there is not a single ballot box left," Cabi said. "We also face serious server problems and do not have a single computer," he added after a meeting with the interim president as part of consultations on the electoral timetable.

The CNE has also proposed conducting a complete re-registration of voters before the next elections.

Edited by: Cai Nebe