DILI, 20 November 2025 (TATOLI) – The g7+ Election Observation Mission has arrived in Guinea-Bissau to monitor the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for the 23rd of this month.
The team includes the Head of Mission, Christina Joanna Mitini; the g7+ Director of Operations, Félix Piedade; the Director-General of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration of Timor-Leste, Elvino Fernandes; the Secretary-General of the National Electoral Commission of São Tomé and Príncipe, Melvim Castro; the g7+ Protocol Officer and Partner, Elísio Valadares; and the g7+ Personal Assistant, Vítor Gonçalves.
The mission’s first activity in Bissau will be a coordination meeting between the g7+ delegation and local focal points.
The purpose of the meeting is to outline the mission’s objectives, assign teams to different electoral zones, and prepare engagements with political parties and local authorities.
The observers will also collect accreditation materials and issue identification cards.
They will hold internal meetings to finalize the regional deployment map, implementation plan, and the list of pre-election observers.
After these preparatory steps, the mission will visit campaign sites to assess the environment and observe political activities.
The g7+ was established in Timor-Leste in 2010 as an intergovernmental organization that brings together 20 conflict-affected countries, including Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Yemen.
Its core mandate is to support member states in strengthening peace, stability, and resilience.
The organization is headquartered in Dili and has maintained a representation office in Lisbon, Portugal, since 2017, and another in New York, United States, since September 2024.
The g7+ focuses on three priority areas: global advocacy for peacebuilding and state-building; peer learning among member countries through fragile-to-fragile cooperation; and institutional strengthening.
Fragile-to-fragile cooperation emphasizes shared learning in areas such as natural resource management, access to justice, and peace and reconciliation processes.
The Election Observation Mission was first launched in 2014, when the Timorese government supported Guinea-Bissau in voter registration and election organization through g7+ fragile-to-fragile cooperation.
The success of that collaboration led the g7+ Secretariat, under Hélder da Costa, to invite electoral experts from the Comoros in 2017 to observe that year’s presidential elections.
In March 2023, the g7+ formalized the Election Observation Mission in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to monitor elections across member states and help ensure they are free, fair, peaceful, and democratic.
The g7+ has since deployed election observers to several member countries.
These missions include Timor-Leste’s legislative elections on 21 May 2023; Guinea-Bissau’s elections on 4 June 2023; Sierra Leone’s elections on 24 June 2023; Liberia’s elections on 10 October 2023; and the Solomon Islands’ elections on 17 April 2024.
TATOLI
