Guinea-Bissau poll goes to second round: official

Guinea-Bissau's presidential vote will go to a second round on August 2 between Malam Bacai Sanha and Koumba Yala, two former heads of state, the head of the National Electoral Commission said Thursday.

Eleven candidates, including three former presidents, ran in the first round on June 28 to replace assassinated leader Joao Bernardo Vieira in the coup-prone former Portuguese colony of 1.3 million people.

Sanha served as interim president from June 1999 to May 2000 and was candidate for the long-dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which already controls 67 of the 100 seats in the national assembly.

Yala's time in office between 2000 and 2003 was marked by wide fiscal mismanagement and sweeping arrests of opposition figures until he was brought down in a coup.

Provisional results of the first round, which was marked by one of the lowest turnouts on record, gave Sanha 39.59 percent of the vote, followed by Yala with 29.42 percent.

"We're ready for the second round in a climate of peace and respect for democratic rules. The PAIGC is a great party and will prove that on the terrain," Sanha's campaign director, Luis Olivaz, told AFP.

For Yala, campaign director Baltizar Cardoso said, "We accept the results given by the CNE, but that doesn't prevent us carrying out checks on the basis of the reports we have."

The parties of the leading candidates declared themselves all set for a second round that will be a re-run of a January 2000 vote pitting Yala against Sanha.

Third was Henrique Rosa, another former head of state, with 24.19 percent.

Once the electoral commission announced results, many looked to Rosa for his stance when he acknowledged defeat, but he said, "I will make no recommendation in favour of any candidate."

Whoever wins will have to contend with grinding poverty -- Guinea-Bissau was ranked 175 out of 177 countries in the 2007-2008 UN Development Programme human index report -- and with the corrupting influence of drugs trafficking.

The nation is a transit point in the cocaine trade to Europe from Latin America, according to the United Nations.

Electoral commission chief Desejado Lima Da Costa said the first round had been conducted in an "orderly and civic" manner, and thanked foreign countries for their aid.

Observers from the European Union said Wednesday that the election was "well organised, peaceful, free and transparent" with no irregularities or major incidents.

But they suggested the turnout was low because of a climate of "fear and intimidation" in the wake of Vieira's murder and the subsequent killings of top politicians by the army.

The turnout was 60 percent, the lowest ever recorded in the small, unstable west African state. The rate was 82 percent in last year's parliamentary polls and 79 percent in the 2005 presidential election.

"The elections of August 2 will take place in the rainy season," warned Quintino Djassi, who is in charge of regional electoral conditions. "We have to take account of the fact that it will be hard to get about in some areas that are inaccessible for several months each year."

Vieira, who ruled Guinea-Bissau for much of the past quarter century, was killed by soldiers on March 2 in apparent revenge for the death of army chief, General Batista Tagme Na Waie, in a bomb attack.

On June 5, former territorial administration minister, Baciro Dabo, a candidate in the election, and former defence minister Helder Proenca were killed by soldiers amid allegations that they were plotting a coup.