Guinea-Bissau's main opposition coalition and its historical PAIGC party will not be on the ballot in November presidential and legislative elections, according to a final list of parties and candidates published by the Supreme Court Friday.

The West African nation's top court had already provisionally announced the ineligibilities, which are due to late applications.

The country's main opposition leader, former Prime Pinister Domingos Simoes Pereira, had submitted his presidential candidacy under PAIGC too late, according to the Supreme Court, after first trying to enter the election under a coalition which was not correctly registered.

Pereira heads the main opposition coalition Pai Terra Ranka, comprised of around 10 political parties, including his PAIGC party which led the former Portuguese colony to independence.

Late application

In late September, the Supreme Court said that Pai Terra Ranka was ineligible for the November 23 legislative election, to be held the same day as the presidential vote, due to a late application.

PAIGC meanwhile did not submit a legislative application, according to Supreme Court spokesman Mamadu Embalo.

Pereira returned to Guinea-Bissau in mid-September after spending nine months abroad because of a perceived threat to his life as well as legal issues.

Before returning, he had told supporters in Portugal that he was coming home to lead a "democratic fight".

His arch-rival, incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, is registered as a presidential candidate.

The two politicians faced off in the country's last presidential election in 2019, with Pereira bitterly contesting his defeat.

Attempted coup

In 2023, Embalo dissolved Guinea-Bissau's parliament, at the time dominated by the opposition, following armed clashes that the president branded an attempted coup.

The move was fiercely condemned by Pereira - then the parliament's speaker - as a constitutional coup.

Guinea-Bissau has experienced a succession of coups since independence from Portugal in 1974.