The president of the Guinean Human Rights League, Augusto Mário Silva, said in an interview with Lusa that political radicalism in Guinea-Bissau worsened in the last elections and that it is necessary to raise awareness among the population.
“This manifestation has been a reality over the years, but it only got worse in the last elections because, unfortunately, there was an ostentatious manipulation of our cultural, ethnic and religious differences for personal and political gain,” he said.
According to the lawyer, this manifestation of hate speech has spread and “now we hear about these situations everywhere”.
“It is very worrying, and we are approaching the elections. We need to reactivate the electoral code of conduct, we need to raise the necessary awareness so that our populations, which have been magnificent in this respect and have resisted attempts at religious or ethnic manipulation, so that they remain more resilient to these phenomena,” he said.
The Guinean Human Rights League has been monitoring radicalism at the political level, especially during the electoral period, since 2009. Since then, it has been warning about the phenomenon, which led to the production of the code of ethical and electoral conduct.
“We have always reminded the political class and society in general that inflammatory speeches during election campaigns must be avoided. That is what we are doing,” he said.
Guinea-Bissau will hold snap legislative elections next year after Guinean President Umaro Sissoco Embaló dissolved the Guinean parliament in May.
The elections were scheduled for 18 December, but the government proposed to the head of state that they be postponed and rescheduled from mid-May due to technical constraints, preventing voter registration and forcing a new electoral schedule.
