Guinea-Bissau was thrown into uncertainty on Wednesday after military officers announced they had assumed “total control” of the country, suspending the ongoing electoral process and shutting its borders just three days after general elections.

The declaration followed heavy gunfire near the presidential palace earlier in the day, as soldiers in uniform seized key routes leading to the complex.

In a televised statement, General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, said a unified command made up of all branches of the armed forces had taken charge of national governance “until further notice.” He delivered the announcement while flanked by heavily armed soldiers.

A senior military source told AFP that incumbent president Umaro Sissoco Embalo, widely expected to secure re-election, was inside a building behind military headquarters alongside the chief of staff and the interior minister. It remains unclear whether Embalo has been detained.

Both Embalo and opposition challenger Fernando Dias had already claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential vote, with provisional results originally scheduled for release on Thursday.

Guinea-Bissau, long marred by political turbulence, has experienced four successful coups since independence in 1974, along with numerous failed attempts.

In his statement, N’Canha alleged that the armed forces had uncovered a plot involving “national drug lords” aimed at destabilizing the country. He claimed weapons had been funneled into Guinea-Bissau to “alter the constitutional order.”

The military has suspended the entire electoral process, halted all media broadcasts and imposed a nationwide curfew.

The National Electoral Commission (CNE) also came under attack on Wednesday, according to commission spokesperson Abdourahmane Djalo, who confirmed that unidentified gunmen targeted the institution.

More than 6,780 security personnel, including members of the ECOWAS Stabilisation Force, had been deployed to secure the elections and the tense post-vote period.

The last presidential election, held in 2019, spiraled into a four-month crisis as both leading candidates declared themselves winners.

This year’s polls were controversial even before voting began. Guinea-Bissau’s historic ruling party PAIGC, which led the fight for independence from Portugal, was barred from the ballot along with its leader, Domingos Simoes Pereira, after the Supreme Court ruled they filed their documentation late. The opposition described the exclusion as political “manipulation.”

President Embalo dissolved the opposition-dominated legislature in 2023 and has governed by decree since then. Opposition leaders insist Embalo’s mandate expired on February 27, five years after his inauguration.

The developments now plunge the already fragile nation, one of the poorest in the world and a known trafficking hub for Latin American drug cartels, into yet another chapter of uncertainty.