BBC NEWS
Tuesday, 7 December, 1999, 16:24 GMT
Opposition triumph in Bissau vote
Doubts remain over the military's intentions



The opposition in Guinea-Bissau has won control of parliament in elections
intended to end six months of military rule.

The electoral commission says final results from the parliamentary election
held on 28 November give the opposition leader Kumba Yalla's Party for
Social Renewal (PRS) 37 seats out of a total of 102.

Parliamentary vote
PRS - 37 seats
Resistance Party - 27 seats
PAIGC - 25 seats
The governing party the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and
Cape Verde (PAIGC) came third behind the Guinea-Bissau Resistance Party.

The PAIGC, which had 62 seats in the previous assembly, will lose its
long-dominant parliamentary position to the PRS, which won only 21 seats at
the last elections.

The head of the electoral commission Filomeno Lobo de Pina also confirmed
that there will be a run-off election for president.

Kumba Yalla failed to get the necessary votes for a first-round victory over
Guinea-Bissau's transitional president, Malam Bacal Sanha.

With a handful of results still to be counted Mr Yalla - who only narrowly
lost the last presidential elections in 1994 - has 38% to Mr Sanha's 23%.

No date has been yet set for the run-off.

The elections are supposed to end a transitional period for the West African
country, but correspondents say a question mark remains over the
post-transition status of the military junta.

 Vieira: overthrown and not standing for re-election

Less than two weeks before the elections, the country's military ruler
announced that his junta intended to remain in existence for at least
another 10 years to observe elected civilian governments.

However a later announcement said the junta would dissolve itself after
elections.

The UN organised the elections after the overthrow of President Joao
Bernardo Vieira by former army chief of staff General Ansumane Mane.

The elections themselves were marked by polling delays and rioting in some
parts of the capital, Bissau, when election officials and materials failed
to arrive.

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