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Guinea Bissau: President seeks $3.5m from CPLP allies to pay for November vote
4:29 CAT | 17 Jul 2018
File photo: Lusa
The president of Guinea Bissau, José Mário Vaz, said on Tuesday that the country still needs another $3.5 million (€3 million) or so for its budget to hold the legislative elections scheduled for 18 November.
“We are here to inform our peers about the situation in Guinea Bissau,” Vaz said on his arrival in Santa Maria, on the island of Sal, Cape Verde, for the summit of the Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP). “The legislative elections are scheduled for 18 November and we are facing some difficulties at this moment.”
Vaz said that his country intended to “ask its peers for help” to make up “the gap that still exists at the level of the budget” to stage the elections. He explained that some $3.5 million is still needed.
Guinea-Bissau has been mired in a political crisis for more than two years, with the various party leaders and president unable to reach a consensus on how to proceed. In January the president appointed his sixth prime minister since the 2014 legislative elections.
On Monday, the foreign minister of the summit host, Cabo Verde, pledged CPLP member states to work together to “help Guinea-Bissau” and hailed what he called the “political stability” at present.
“Thank God, the current political situation in Guinea-Bissau is very positive,” said Luís Filipe Tavares after the CPLP Council of Ministers that precedes the summit, stressing the fact that a date for the elections had been set. “There is political stability today.”
The CPLP summit takes place in Santa Maria on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Cape Verde taking over the revolving presidency from Brazil.
Source: Lusa
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