Results and bases of the general elections held in the liberated areas in 1972

The situation prevailing in Guinea since 1968 as a result of the national liberation struggle waged by the people of this country, under the leadership of PAIGC, is comparable to that of an independent state, part of whose national territory, notably the urban centres, is occupied by foreign military forces. Dozens of reliable observers of various nationalities and of different professions have been able to visit our country, at their initiative or at our invitation, and have given irrefutable (oral, written, photographic and cinematographic) testimony about the real situation prevailing there: vast areas have been liberated from the colonial yoke and a new political, administrative, economic, social and cultural life is developing in these areas, while the patriotic forces, supported by the population, are fighting successfully against the colonialists to complete the liberation of the country.

Most recently, in April 1972, a United Nations Special Mission, composed of representatives of three member states of the international organisation and duly mandated by the General Assembly, visited the liberated areas of our country, where they stayed for one week. Among the conclusions the Special Mission was able to draw from the now historic visit, the following is highlighted: ‘That the struggle for the liberation of the territory continues to progress and that Portugal no longer exercises any effective administrative control in large areas of Guinea (Bissau) are irrefutable facts …It is also evident that the population of the liberated areas unreservedly supports the policies and activities of the national liberation movement, PAIGC, which, after nine years of military struggle, exercises free de facto administrative control in those areas and is effectively protecting the interests of the inhabitants in spite of Portuguese activities.‘

Such a situation implies a contradiction that in the light of the criminal obstinacy of the Lisbon government, which intensifies its genocidal colonial war against the legitimate rights of our people to self-determination, independence and progress, hinders the march of the struggle and puts a brake on the full flowering of the personality of our African nation, forged in the struggle.