My Vote Not for Sale: National Elections Part 2

With a volatile history, politics in Guinea-Bissau can be highly partisan, unstable and even violent. In 2005 a diverse group of local leaders, called the Citizens Good Will Task Force (CGWTF), came together to help Guinea-Bissau through its 2005 Presidential elections.

1,200 t-shirts with the message “My Vote is Not for Sale” were produced and distributed by CGWTF through a series of small grants. The 2005 work had such a nation-wide impact (see National Elections Part 1) that they decided to again help in the 2008 Parliamentary elections.

The same message was put onto 3,000 silicone bracelets and 22,500 pamphlets. The pamphlets were in Crioulo, a local language spoken nearly the entire country, and distributed to national and community radio stations as a voter education campaign encouraging freedom of choice.

BEFORE’s model of action across sectors meant that while CGWTF organized at the grassroots level, the International Peace and Prosperity Project (IPPP) delivered special training on election dispute resolution capacity building and discussed Guinea-Bissau’s readiness for the elections with the National Electoral Commission and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The Outcome
The bracelets were very well-received and CGWTF leadership remarked:
“[We] started distribution [of the bracelets] immediately with the youth network which organized a workshop with military personnel and civilians. Everyone who receives it wear it immediately. Today we took 500 to the National Electoral Commission. Can you believe that the President himself put one on his hand?”

The people of Guinea-Bissau came out in strong force to vote for their leaders. A number of global media outlets, including BBC News, reported peaceful National Assembly elections and nearly 85% voter turn-out. It was a monumental achievement for a country that has only elected three other National Assemblies since it gained independence 35 years ago.

However, several days after the election results were announced, there was an attack on the home of President-elect Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira. General Tagme responded by providing protection to the newly elected President – even though the attackers were from his own ethnic group. Read more about how General Tagme’s Security Sector Reform efforts aided peaceful elections.