Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Guinea-Bissau
conventional short form:
Guinea-Bissau
local long form:
Republica da Guine-Bissau
local short form:
Guine-Bissau
former:
Portuguese Guinea
Government type:
republic
Capital:
name: Bissau
geographic coordinates:
11 51 N, 15 35 W
time difference:
UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
9 regions (regioes, singular - regiao); Bafata, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali; note - Bolama may have been renamed Bolama-Bijagos
Independence:
24 September 1973 (declared); 10 September 1974 (from Portugal)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 24 September (1973)
Constitution:
promulgated 16 May 1984; amended several times, last in 1996; note - constitution suspended following military coup in April 2012 (2013)
Legal system:
mixed legal system of civil law (influenced by the early French Civil Code) and customary law
International law organization participation:
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; non-party state to the ICCt
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
Executive branch:
chief of state: [Transitional] President Manuel Serifo NHAMADJO (since 11 May 2012)
note:
in the aftermath of the April 2012 coup that deposed the government, an agreement was reached between ECOWAS mediators and the military junta to name NHAMADJO as transitional president with a one-year term; the transitional government has postponed a presidential election for 24 November 2013
head of government:
[Transitional] Prime Minister Rui Duarte BARROS (since 16 May 2012)
cabinet:
NA
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (no term limits); election last held on 18 March 2012 with a runoff between the two leading candidates scheduled for 22 April 2012; prime minister appointed by the president after consultation with party leaders in the legislature
election results:
with no candidate receiving a minimum 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff between the two leading candidates was scheduled for 22 April 2012; percent of vote (first round) - Carlos GOMES Junior 49.0%, Kumba YALA 23.4%, others 27.6%
Legislative branch:
unicameral National People's Assembly or Assembleia Nacional Popular (100 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections:
last held on 16 November 2008 (legislative elections scheduled for 24 November 2013 have been rescheduled for 16 March 2014)
election results:
percent of vote by party - PAIGC 49.8%, PRS 25.3%, PRID 7.5%, PND 2.4%, AD 1.4%, other parties 13.6%; seats by party - PAIGC 67, PRS 28, PRID 3, PND 1, AD 1
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Supreme Court of Justice (consists of 9 judges and organized into Civil, Criminal, and Social and Administrative Disputes Chambers)
judge selection and term of office: judges nominated by the Higher Council of the Magistrate, a major government organ responsible for judge appointments, dismissals, and discipline of the judiciary; judges appointed by the president with tenure for life
subordinate courts: Appeal Court; regional (first instance) courts; military court
Political parties and leaders:
African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde or PAIGC [Rui Dia de SOUSA]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA
International organization participation:
ACP, AfDB, AOSIS, AU (suspended), CPLP, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: none; note - Guinea-Bissau does not have official representation in Washington, DC
Diplomatic representation from the US:
the US Embassy suspended operations on 14 June 1998 in the midst of violent conflict between forces loyal to then President VIEIRA and military-led junta; the US Ambassador to Senegal, currently Ambassador Lewis LUKENS, is accredited to Guinea-Bissau
Flag description:
two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and green with a vertical red band on the hoist side; there is a black five-pointed star centered in the red band; yellow symbolizes the sun; green denotes hope; red represents blood shed during the struggle for independence; the black star stands for African unity
note:
uses the popular Pan-African colors of Ethiopia; the flag design was heavily influenced by the Ghanaian flag
National anthem:
name: "Esta e a Nossa Patria Bem Amada" (This Is Our Beloved Country)
lyrics/music: Amilcar Lopes CABRAL/XIAO He
note: adopted 1974; a delegation from Portuguese Guinea visited China in 1963 and heard music by XIAO He; Amilcar Lopes CABRA, the leader of Guinea-Bissau's independence movement, asked the composer to create a piece that would inspire his people to struggle for independence
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Guinea-Bissau on this page is re-published from the 2014 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea-Bissau Government 2014 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guinea-Bissau Government 2014 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 06-Nov-14