Monday, July 27, 2009

Guinea-Bissau votes coming in

No word on any final result is expected for some days, but the run-off Presidential Election held on Sunday in Guinea-Bissau looks to have gone well. Reuters has observers reporting:
Voting was calm, orderly and well-organised in the main, said Johan Van Ecke, chief of the European Union's observer mission, one of several international scrutineers, though turnover was similarly low to that of the first round.
That's good news.

The BBC their report on this as well, and they see some additional positive notes, specifically this:
Our correspondent says in past elections, voting has largely gone along ethnic or religious lines, but many people are now so fed up with the situation that this seems to be changing.
Of course, the major item behind much of the recent trouble has been the role of Latin American narco-traffickers using Guinea-Bissau as a way-point to European markets, and there is no clear sign that the government that will come out of this election will be any more capable of standing up to the Narco's...

Here's hoping, though.

***

The essential source for polling and election information from around the world, Angus Reid Global Monitor, had this work-up on the election, and here at CompHyp there have been a number of topic threads on Guinea-Bissau's situation. Sort by "West Africa" to find them, please.

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