GBissau President Meets W.Africa Body Over Election Delay

The president of Guinea-Bissau is set for talks with the West African regional bloc ECOWAS over the postponement of elections aimed at defusing a prolonged political crisis.

Bissau, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Nov, 2018 ) :The president of Guinea-Bissau is set for talks with the West African regional bloc ECOWAS over the postponement of elections aimed at defusing a prolonged political crisis.

President Jose Mario Vaz headed for the Nigerian capital Abuja late Wednesday to meet Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, head of the commission of the Economic Community of West African States, sources at Vaz's office said.

The elections are vital for resolving a crisis that has gripped the country since Vaz sacked his prime minister, Domingos Simoes Pereira, in August 2015.

Under a deal brokered at an ECOWAS summit in April, a consensus prime minister, Aristide Gomes, was named and tasked with steering the country to legislative elections on November 18.

But the ballot has been delayed by problems in drawing up the electoral list. The list should have been completed by October 20 but is now set to end on November 20.

On November 5, a ministerial-level delegation to Bissau, which included Brou, called on all political actors to ensure that elections take place by year's end.

Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, ranks among the poorest countries in the world, according to the UN's development index.