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(https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news) Australia  (https://www.theguardian.com/world/middleeast) Middle East  (https://www.theguardian.com/world/africa) Africa   (https://www.theguardian.com/inequality) Inequality  (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development) Global development                    (Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man holds up his hands at a polling station)          Guinea-Bissau’s transitional president, Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man, gestures after voting at a polling station in Bairro de Luanda on Sunday. Photograph: Reuters     (guinea-bissau-voters-approve-constitution-elections.html#img-1)   View image in fullscreen       Guinea-Bissau’s transitional president, Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man, gestures after voting at a polling station in Bairro de Luanda on Sunday. Photograph: Reuters       (https://www.theguardian.com/world/guinea-bissau) Guinea-Bissau     New constitution in Guinea-Bissau will undermine democracy, opponents say   Referendum result means fewer seats in parliament and new rules on candidates, ahead of December elections         (https://www.theguardian.com/profile/eromo-egbejule) Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan   Wed 2 Sep 2026 05.20 EDT  Last modified on Wed 2 Sep 2026 12.52 EDT   (mailto:?subject=New constitution in Guinea-Bissau will undermine democracy, opponents say&body=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/02/guinea-bissau-voters-approve-constitution-elections?CMP=share_btn_url) Share          (https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=theguardian.com) Prefer the Guardian on Google          Guinea-Bissau voters have approved a new constitution, which critics say will undermine democracy, that significantly expands presidential powers ahead of elections due in December. According to provisional results, 70% of voters approved sweeping changes in the tiny west African state’s first constitutional amendment since revisions that ended the one-party socialist state more than three decades ago.  The turnout for Sunday’s referendum was reportedly over 55%, amounting to an estimated 544,060 people. The new constitution will reduce the number of seats in parliament from 102 to 65 and cut electoral constituencies from 29 to 12. New provisions will require presidential candidates to have lived continuously in the country for at least five years before the vote, which is believed to target diaspora-based politicians with significant followings.       (Six people wearing yellow his-vis vests sit on colourful plastic chairs at two tables on the veranda of a tin-roofed building. There are plastic ballot boxes to the side of each table. It appears to be raining and muddy.)   (guinea-bissau-voters-approve-constitution-elections.html#img-2)   View image in fullscreen       Election officials wait for voters to cast their ballots in the referendum in Bissau. The turnout was reportedly over 55% of the population. Photograph: Darcicio Barbosa/AP  The referendum’s outcome is expected to pave the way for December’s elections, which many hope will steady the political landscape in Guinea-Bissau, which has been through a series of politically turbulent periods since its declaration of independence from Portugal was globally recognised in 1974. Since then it has had at least 10 coup attempts, half of which have been successful. The most recent came after last November’s disputed presidential elections. Both candidates declared themselves winners, citing electoral malpractice by the other’s camp. The military forcefully intervened, setting up a transitional ruling council headed by Gen Horta Inta-A Na Man, a former military chief of general staff. Na Man said: “What we want after this referendum is to allow whoever wins the elections to see out their mandate without hindrance.” Nelson Moreira, the second vice-president of the transitional council, said the outgoing constitution, which came into effect in 1993, had often been cited as “the cause of instability in Guinea”. The leading opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which was barred from fielding a presidential candidate in the 2025 election, had asked its supporters to boycott the referendum, which it called a democratic farce. “What will happen on 30 August is the continuation of the coup d’état carried out on 26 November,” its leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, had said.         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