The military in power in Guinea-Bissau approved a new constitution for the country on Tuesday (13), in which the President of the Republic becomes the “sole leader.”
According to Lusa, the National Transitional Council, which has assumed parliamentary functions, approved the new constitution 30 years after the approval of the constitution that imposed a semi-presidential regime in Guinea-Bissau.
The new version, which will come into force after being promulgated by the transitional president and published, concentrates power in the President of the Republic, who becomes head of government and appoints the prime minister, ministers, and members of the executive.
The President of the Republic also has the power to dissolve Parliament, which, in the new version of the Constitution, is no longer the National People’s Assembly and is now simply called the National Assembly.
The resolution was conveyed to journalists in Bissau by the spokesperson for the National Transitional Council, Fernando Vaz, in a statement broadcast live on Radio Voz do Povo. On that occasion, he stated that “the new Constitution clarifies powers” and explained that “the head” will now be the President of the Republic and that everything depends on “a single leader of institutional cooperation between political actors.”
According to the explanations, Guinea-Bissau maintains the same semi-presidential system that was already enshrined in the Constitution, but with “reinforced powers for the President of the Republic,” who now has executive power.
“To be clearer, in addition to the role of head of state, he also becomes the head of government, directs the government, and chairs the Council of Ministers,” he said.
According to the spokesperson for the National Transitional Council, the President of the Republic will have the power to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister and to dissolve the Assembly, which continues to have legislative and supervisory powers, while the Government also retains political responsibility to Parliament.
Another innovation, he pointed out, is the function of coordinating and guiding the actions of ministers, with the prime minister being subordinate to the orders and instructions issued by the President of the Republic.
In the new Constitution, the Government is accountable to the President of the Republic and to Parliament and is subject to motions of censure, rejection, or confidence. The Constitution of Guinea-Bissau no longer includes “revolutionary ideological expressions” in its preamble.
“We have eliminated the ideological and revolutionary content of the Constitution because it is the Constitution of all Guineans, not that of a specific party,” he explained.
The name of Parliament has also been changed to simply National Assembly, without the term Popular.
Military takes power
The revision of the Constitution comes less than two months after the military seized power on November 26, 2025, three days after the general elections and one day before the official results were announced.
The opposition had already claimed victory over the outgoing president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who was running for a second term. Embaló left the country, the candidate who declared himself the winner, Fernando Dias, reportedly took refuge in the Nigerian Embassy in Bissau, and the main opposition candidate, Domingos Simões Pereira, was arrested after supporting Dias, following a court ruling that prevented Simões Pereira and the historic PAIGC party from running in the elections for the first time.
A so-called Military High Command took power and appointed General Horta Inta-a as President of the Transitional Republic. The military suspended the Constitution and replaced the Assembly, dissolved two years ago, with a National Transitional Council, with the stated purpose of making a political transition for a period of one year.
The seizure of power was justified by an alleged coup d’état that was being prepared to halt the electoral process, which was ultimately interrupted by the destruction of the minutes and material of the National Electoral Commission.
Guinea-Bissau has been suspended from the main international organizations of which it was a member, with the requirement to return to democratic normality and release political prisoners in order to regain its seat in bodies such as ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) or the African Union.
