Lisbon, Aug. 31, 2026 (Lusa) - Local media reports indicate that police in Guinea-Bissau have detained Sulai Seide, a journalist and editor-in-chief at Radio Capital FM, at the 2nd Police Station in Bissau on charges of publishing «false information» about Sunday's constitutional referendum.
According to information from various media outlets that Lusa consulted on social media, individuals abducted the journalist on Sunday night and took him to the police station.
The same sources state that the arrest took place a few hours after the journalist had published images on digital platforms of polling stations showing low turnout and low public participation in the referendum.
When contacted by Lusa, a source from the Union of Journalists and Media Professionals (Sinjotecs) in Guinea-Bissau confirmed the arrest of Sulai Seidi and stated that they were monitoring the situation in conjunction with Capital FM's management.
The spokesperson for Guinea-Bissau's National Electoral Commission (CNE), Idriça Djaló, announced on Sunday that turnout in the referendum on the constitution proposed by the military had exceeded 50%. However, according to the opposition and civil society organisations, which had called for a boycott of the vote, the process resulted in a high level of abstention.
The Guinean military staged a coup d'état on 26 November, one day before the publication of the results of the parliamentary and presidential elections; they removed the then President-elect, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, from power and pushed through a new constitution that strengthens the powers of the head of state.
The opposition regarded this as a «ceremonial coup d'état» designed to allow Sissoco Embaló to return to power through new presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled by the military for 6 December.
*** The Lusa news agency's bureau in Guinea-Bissau has been suspended since August 2025 following the government's expulsion of representatives from the Portuguese media. Coverage is being provided remotely *** JMC/ADB // ADB.
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