Guinea-Bissau referendum approves new constitution that expands president’s powers
Provisional results announced by the country’s electoral commission showed that 70% of voters backed the changes in Sunday’s referendum, while 30% voted against them. Turnout was reported at nearly 60%.
The new constitution strengthens the presidency at the expense of the prime minister, altering the balance of power under Guinea-Bissau’s semi-presidential system.
Previously, Guinea-Bissau’s legislature appointed a prime minister from the parliamentary majority, who then formed a cabinet – an arrangement the ruling military authorities said had contributed to political instability.
The changes now give the president greater authority over the government.
However, the five-year presidential term and two-term limit have been retained.
The military authorities have argued that the changes are necessary to end repeated disputes between presidents and prime ministers.
The new constitution also reduces the number of seats in parliament from 102 to 65 and cuts the number of electoral constituencies from 29 to 12.
It introduces new eligibility requirements for presidential candidates, including a provision requiring them to have lived continuously in Guinea-Bissau for the five years before an election.
The changes come ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December, which the military authorities say are intended to return the country to civilian rule.
But the referendum was strongly opposed by the country’s main opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which urged its supporters to boycott the vote.
It warned that the changes risked concentrating too much power in the presidency.
PAIGC leader Domingos Simões Pereira accused those behind the referendum of seeking to undermine democracy and political freedoms.
Some activists told the BBC that the referendum was a mere formality and claimed that 90% of registered voters did not take part.
Regional analyst Paul Ejime told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the referendum result did not reflect the will of the people, arguing that the changes were aimed at turning the president into an “emperor”.
“The population is terrified because the military has been going after everyone who opposes them,” Ejime said, adding that the junta lacked legitimacy because it had come to power in what he described as a “very strange coup”.
He called on the regional bloc Ecowas to intervene and enforce its rules, which bar member states from changing their constitutions within six months of an election.
The referendum follows another turbulent period in Guinea-Bissau’s politics.
The military seized power in November 2025 after a disputed presidential election in which then-President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias both claimed victory.
The junta leaders said they had acted to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians who had “the support of a well-known drug baron” to destabilise the country.
The takeover added Guinea-Bissau to a growing list of western and central African countries that have experienced military coups in recent years.
December’s elections will now be an important test of whether the military authorities follow through on their pledge to restore civilian rule and how the expanded powers of the presidency reshape Guinea-Bissau’s fragile political system.