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José Mário Vaz
José Mário Vaz 2014.jpg
Mário Vaz at the United States–Africa Leaders Summit 2014
5th President of Guinea-Bissau
In office
23 June 2014 – 27 February 2020
Prime Minister Rui Duarte de Barros (Acting)
Domingos Simões Pereira
Baciro Djá
Carlos Correia
Baciro Djá
Umaro Sissoco Embaló
Artur Silva
Aristides Gomes
Faustino Imbali
Preceded by Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo (Acting)
Succeeded by Umaro Sissoco Embaló
Minister of Finance
In office
8 September 2009 – 12 February 2012
Personal details
Born (1957-12-10) 10 December 1957 (age 66)
Calequisse, Portuguese Guinea
Political party PAIGC
Spouse Rosa Teixeira Goudiaby
Signature

José Mário Vaz (born 10 December 1957) is a Bissau-Guinean politician who served as president of Guinea-Bissau from 23 June 2014 to 27 February 2020.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet His Excellency José Mário Vaz, President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, and Ms. Rosa Teixeira Goudiaby Vaz
Vas in 2014.

Early life

Popularly known by the nickname "Jomav," José Mário Vaz was born in 1957 to Mário Vaz and Amelia Gomes in Calequisse, outside the city of Cacheu in northern Guinea-Bissau. He is married and has three children. He graduated as an economist in Lisbon and did an internship at the Office of Economic Studies of the Banco de Portugal in 1982.

Political career

In 2004, he was elected as mayor of Bissau, a position he held until 2009, when he was named by President Malam Bacai Sanhá as minister of finance. He and the other ministers were ousted in the 2012 Guinea-Bissau coup d'etat.

Guinea Bissaus interim President Raimundo Pereira (cropped)
Raimundo Pereria leader of coup and president of Guinea Bissau.

Vaz is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde and won the right to represent the party in the 2014 presidential election by besting eleven hopefuls during a two-day primary in March 2014.

In the first round of the election, held on 13 April 2014, Vaz won 40.9% of the votes, and entered a runoff with the second leading vote-getter, Nuno Gomes Nabiam, who was backed by the military. In the second round, on 18 May 2014, he received 61.9% of the vote. Though Gomes Nabiam initially contested the result, he conceded the election on 22 May 2014.

..... After the 2012 coup, he fled to Portugal, but returned in February 2013 and spent three days under arrest. He was accused of being involved in the disappearance of €9.1 million in aid donated to the country by Angola, a charge he denies, and it remains unclear if the donation was ever sent.

Presidency

Vaz was inaugurated on 23 June 2014. Vaz's inauguration ended a transitional government that emerged in the wake of a coup in April 2012.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi meeting the President of Guinea Bissau, Mr. Jose Mario Vaz, in New Delhi on October 30, 2015 (1)
Vaz with Indian Prime Minister Modi in October 2015.

When he won the 2014 Guinea-Bissau general election he became president with Domingos Simões Pereira the prime minister. As president a political crisis occurred under his administration with efforts to end this crisis.

Vaz has the peculiarity of being the only president of Guinea-Bissau since independence to be able to finish his five-year term.

The Minister of State for Mines and Steel, Shri Vishnu Deo Sai meeting the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Jose Mario Vaz, at Bissau on September 16, 2015 (1)
Vaz with Indian Minister of State Deo Sai.

The International Monetary Fund met with Mario Vaz and other officials to discuss about economic activity which were supported by fiscal management and a 2018 draft budget.

..... He met with council ambassadors of the UN about this.

President Vaz sacked government with immediate effect which caused a crisis for Guinea-Bissau and the election taking place a month after.

On June 27, 2019, four days after the end of his term, the assembly of Guinea-Bissau chose him as a replacement by the president of the National People's Assembly, Cipriano Cassamá, who until the November elections remained as acting president. On 29 June, ECOWAS decided that Vaz would stay in office until after the 2019 elections.

Vaz ran as an independent in the 2019 elections but received only 12% of the vote in the first round and failed to advance to the second round.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: José Mario Vaz para niños

  • Politics of Guinea-Bissau
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