Bissau, Oct 14, 2019 (AFP)
Guinea-Bissau's Supreme Court said Friday it had approved 12 candidates to contest upcoming presidential elections in the crisis-ridden West African state, including incumbent Jose Mario Vaz and representatives of the main political factions.
Vaz is running as an independent in the vote, expected on November 24, as he seeks a second term in the impoverished country.
Seven candidates had their applications to stand in the election rejected including Nancy Schwartz, a prominent sociologist and the only female candidate.
The court said those rejected have 48 hours to appeal, without giving reasons for its decision.
Vaz, 62, became president in 2014 after elections styled as a new start for an impoverished country that had known only coups and turmoil since the end of Portuguese rule in 1974.
But in 2015, Vaz fell out with the then prime minister, Domingos Simoes Pereira, and fired him, ushering in another crisis.
Another candidate running is former prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who was ousted in 2012 in a coup ahead of the runoff in a presidential vote that he had been widely tipped to win.
Vaz's five-year mandate ended on June 23 but he has stayed on temporarily under a mediation plan forged by the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), although he is not taking part in government.

Sumber : AFP