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    March 18, 2012

Guinea Bissau Holds Presidential Poll

   VOA News
   People register to vote in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, March 18, 2012.
   Photo: Reuters
   People register to vote in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, March 18, 2012.

   Voters in the coup-prone West African nation of Guinea Bissau are
   casting ballots for a new president on Sunday.
   Nine candidates are seeking the presidency in the tiny nation, which
   won independence from Portugal in 1974.
   Since then, Guinea Bissau has struggled through a dictatorship, three
   coups and the 2009 assassination of a president. No elected president
   has served a full, five-year term.
   The winner will succeed late president Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in
   January after a lengthy illness three years after being elected.
   Guinea Bissau had 90 days to hold a presidential poll to replace Mr.
   Sanha.
   Voters are hoping a new president will bring some stability to the
   country, which is used as a shipping point in the cocaine trade and
   where civilian and military leaders often wrestle for control.
   The front-runners include former president Kumba Yala, who was
   overthrown in a 2003 coup, and Carlos Gomes Junior who resigned as
   prime minister to run for president.
   If no candidate wins a majority in Sunday's poll, a runoff will take
   place next month.
   Dozens of international observers are monitoring the election.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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