For the second time in two years, voters in Guinea-Bissau are heading to the polls to choose a president for their small, coup-prone nation. In 2009, the country held an emergency election following the assassination of longtime President Joao Bernardo Vieira. Newly elected leader Malam Bacai spent the better part of his term shuttling between hospitals to treat a mysterious illness. He died in January, prompting the current election.
Sunday’s race pits nine candidates, five of whom ran in the 2009 election. The front-runner is believed to be Carlos Gomes Jr., a former prime minister. Besides numerous coups, Guinea-Bissau has been destabilized by a booming drug trade. Cocaine is smuggled from Latin America in boats and planes, which dock on Guinea-Bissau’s archipelago of islands.
Source: WGME 13 :: News – International News.
