African Party For The Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde - Post-independence History

Post-independence History

After achieving independence, PAIGC was instituted as the sole legal political party of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Luís Cabral became the president of Guinea-Bissau. PAIGC strove for a union between Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, but in 1980 the union finally broke down, following the military take-over by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira against Cabral, who was of Capeverdean origin. The Cape Verdean branch of PAIGC was converted into a separate party, the African Independence Party of Cape Verde (PAICV).

The youth wing of PAIGC is called African Youth Amilcar Cabral (Juventude Africana Amilcar Cabral) and the women's wing is called Democratic Union of the Women of Guinea (União Democrática das Mulheres da Guiné).

Under Vieira, the party continued to govern the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Vieira was re-elected as PAIGC Secretary-General at the party's fourth congress in November 1986. Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991, the first multiparty elections were held in 1994. Vieira won the 1994 presidential election against opposition candidate Kumba Yala of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), while the PAIGC won 62 out of 100 parliamentary seats, with 46% of the vote.

Vieira was re-elected for another four-year term as President of PAIGC in mid-May 1998 at PAIGC's sixth congress, with 438 votes in favor, eight opposed, and four abstaining; the post of Secretary-General was abolished at this congress. An outbreak of civil war in June 1998 eventually led to the ouster of Vieira in May 1999. A few days afterward, former Prime Minister Manuel Saturnino da Costa was named acting President of PAIGC on May 12, 1999, replacing Vieira. Vieira was expelled from PAIGC at a party congress in September 1999 for "treasonable offences, support and incitement to warfare, and practices incompatible with the statutes of the party". Francisco Benante, the leader of reformists within the party and the only civilian in the transitional military junta, was elected as the President of PAIGC at the end of this congress, on September 9, 1999. Benante's candidacy was supported by the junta, and he received 174 votes against 133 votes for the only opposing candidate. The PAIGC won the third highest number of seats in the Nov 1999 parliamentary election, and its presidential candidate, Malam Bacai Sanhá, was defeated by Yala.

In the 2004 legislative elections, held on 28 and 30 March 2004, the PAIGC was the largest single political party, winning 31.45% of the popular vote and 45 out of 100 seats. It formed a government in May 2004, with the party's leader, Carlos Gomes Júnior, becoming Prime Minister. In the 2005 presidential election, PAIGC candidate Malam Bacai Sanhá won 35.45% in the first round. He was defeated in the second round by João Bernardo Vieira, who had returned from exile and ran as an independent. Sanhá won 46.65% of the vote, while Vieira won 52.35%. A few weeks after taking office, Vieira dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior as Prime Minister on 28 October 2005, and on 2 November he appointed Aristides Gomes, who had formerly been a high-ranking member of PAIGC but split with the party to support Vieira, in his place.

In March 2007, the PAIGC formed a three-party alliance with the PRS and the United Social Democratic Party, and the three parties sought to form a new government. This led to a successful no-confidence vote against Aristides Gomes and his resignation late in the month; on 9 April, the choice of the three parties for the position of prime minister, Martinho Ndafa Kabi, was appointed as prime minister by Vieira, and on 17 April a new government was named, composed of ministers from the three parties. Kabi is a leading member of PAIGC; he was elected as the party's Third Vice-President in 2002.

PAIGC withdrew its backing for Kabi on February 29, 2008, saying that this was done "to avoid acts of indiscipline threatening cohesion and unity in the party".

PAIGC's Seventh Ordinary Congress, held in Gabu, began on June 26, 2008; 1,050 delegates participated. Malam Bacai Sanhá, the party's presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005, challenged Gomes for the party leadership, but Gomes was re-elected for a five-year term as President of PAIGC on July 1–July 2, receiving 578 votes against 355 for Sanhá. Kabi, Cipriano Cassama (considered a dissident within the party and associated with Aristides Gomes), and Baciro Dia also contested the leadership election, but attracted comparatively little support.

After Kabi dismissed the directors of customs, taxes and the treasury on July 25, 2008 without notifying the party, PAIGC decided to withdraw from the three-party stability pact that was signed in March 2007. Vieira then dismissed Kabi and appointed Carlos Correia as Prime Minister on August 5.