Guinea-Bissau opposition leader returns from exile

Domingos Simoes Pereira. [AFP]

Guinea-Bissau's opposition leader returned from exile on Friday to submit his candidacy for the country's presidential election later this year, an AFP reporter said.

Domingos Simoes Pereira, a former prime minister and leader of the PAIGC party that led the former Portuguese colony to independence, has spent nine months out of the country because of a perceived threat to his life and legal issues.

He arrived in the capital on Friday night, with a significant security presence deployed around the airport.

Some supporters braved heavy rain to welcome him but he left without commenting to waiting reporters.

Last Sunday, he told supporters in Portugal that he was returning to lead a "democratic fight".

He announced on social media that he intends to run for the presidency on November 23 and wanted to meet the September 26 deadline to submit his application.

Pereira has been a long-time opponent of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and stood against him at the last presidential elections.

The contested vote in 2019 saw the inauguration of two rival heads of state. Pereira opposed the victory attributed by the electoral commission to Embalo.

Pereira and his opposition colleagues consider that the president's mandate, which began on February 27, 2020 for a five-year term, has expired.

As well as the perceived threat to his life, Pereira has been accused of plotting a coup attempt and corruption.

Political analyst Joao Alberto Djata said the opposition leader's return was "risky because several accusations still weigh against him".

Guinea-Bissau has seen four coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974, the last of which was in 2012. There have been 17 attempted coups.