{{Short description|Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (2005–2007; 2018–2019; 2019–2020)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Aristides Gomes en 2019.jpg | name = Aristides Gomes | caption = | order = Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau | term_start = 8 November 2019 | term_end = 28 February 2020<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoije |first=Katarina |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-29/guinea-bissau-president-appoints-nabiam-as-prime-minister |title=Guinea-Bissau President Appoints Nabiam as Prime Minister |date=2020-02-29 |work=Bloomberg News |access-date=2020-04-28 }}</ref> | president = José Mário Vaz | predecessor = Faustino Imbali | successor = Nuno Gomes Nabiam | term_start1 = 16 April 2018 | term_end1 = 29 October 2019 | president1 = José Mário Vaz | predecessor1 = Artur Silva | successor1 = Faustino Imbali | term_start2 = 2 November 2005 | term_end2 = 13 April 2007 | president2 = João Bernardo Vieira | predecessor2 = Carlos Gomes Júnior | successor2 = Martinho Ndafa Kabi | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|11|8|df=y}} | birth_place = | spouse = | party = PRID | other_party = PAIGC {{small|(until 2008)}} }}
'''Aristides Gomes''' (born 8 November 1954<ref name=PAIGC>[http://www.paigc.org/aristides.htm Page on Gomes at PAIGC website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924063301/http://www.paigc.org/aristides.htm |date=2015-09-24 }} {{in lang|pt}}.</ref>) is a Bissau-Guinean politician who was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 8 November 2019 until 28 February 2020. He previously served as Prime Minister from April 2018 to October 2019, and again from 2 November 2005<ref name="Appointed">[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49912&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA-BISSAU "President appoints controversial new prime minister"], IRIN, November 2, 2005.</ref> to 13 April 2007. He has subsequently served as President of the Republican Party for Independence and Development (PRID).
==Life and career== Born in 1954 in Canchungo, Cacheu Region,<ref name=PAIGC/> Gomes attended the University of Paris VIII, where he received a degree in sociology and political science.
A former director-general at ''Televisão Experimental da Guiné-Bissau''<ref name=PAIGC/> (1990–1992),{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Gomes served as the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation<ref name=PAIGC/><ref name=Novo>[http://www.guine-bissau.com/portal.aspx?link=public/viewnews.ascx&menuindex=0&newsid=1094 "Novo Governo: um misto de surpresas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928012514/http://www.guine-bissau.com/portal.aspx?link=public%2Fviewnews.ascx&menuindex=0&newsid=1094 |date=2007-09-28 }}, Guine-Bissau.com, May 13, 2004 {{in lang|pt}}.</ref> in a past government of President João Bernardo Vieira.
He was a long-time member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which he joined on 18 December 1973. He was a delegate to the party's Second Extraordinary Congress in January 1991, and at its Sixth Ordinary Congress in May 1998 he was elected to the party's Political Bureau. At PAIGC's Fourth Extraordinary Congress, held in January–February 2002, he was elected as the First Vice-President of the party.<ref name=PAIGC/>
In the March 2004 parliamentary election, Gomes was elected to the National People's Assembly. He was then a candidate for the post of President of the National People's Assembly, but was defeated by Francisco Benante in a vote held by the PAIGC Central Committee in April 2004; he received 71 votes against 106 votes for Benante.<ref>[http://www.panapress.com/freenewspor.asp?code=por009842&dte=20/04/2004 "PAIGC elege presidente do Parlamento guineense"], Panapress, April 20, 2004 {{in lang|pt}}.</ref> Subsequently he was appointed to the government of PAIGC Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior as Minister of Territorial Administration, Administrative Reform, the Civil Service, and Labor on May 11, 2004,<ref name=Novo/> but he refused to accept the appointment due to what he described as continued military influence over the government.<ref>[http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-21330866_ITM "PAIGC MP shuns cabinet post over undue influence."], PANA (accessmylibrary.com), May 13, 2004.</ref> Later, Gomes was one of the PAIGC leaders on hand to greet Vieira when he returned to Guinea-Bissau from exile on April 7, 2005,<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=53798 "Nino Vieira returns from exile to a hero's welcome"], IRIN, April 7, 2005.</ref> and on May 8, 2005 he was suspended from the party (along with 36 other leading members)<ref>"Guinea-Bissau's ruling party suspends 37 leading members", ''Diario de Noticias'' web site (nl.newsbank.com), May 8, 2005.</ref> for openly supporting Vieira's candidacy against the PAIGC's Malam Bacai Sanhá in the presidential election that took place in June and July 2005. Soon after Vieira's election, Gomes defected from the party, and following Vieira's dismissal of Prime Minister Gomes Júnior on 28 October 2005, he named Gomes as Prime Minister on 2 November.<ref name="Appointed"/> The PAIGC appealed this appointment to the country's Supreme Court, which ruled on 26 January 2006 that Vieira was not required to appoint a PAIGC member as prime minister, validating his appointment of Gomes. The PAIGC denounced the ruling, however.<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=57970 "High court deems new premier legal, sparks protests from leading party"], IRIN, January 30, 2006.</ref>
On 12 March 2007, the PAIGC, Party of Social Renewal (PRS), and United Social Democratic Party agreed to form a new government together. Vieira appeared unwilling to dissolve Gomes' government, however; the director of the cabinet said that there was "no valid reason" to do so,<ref>[http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070313231746241C654497 "Vieira rejects calls to dissolve government"], AFP (''IOL''), March 14, 2007.</ref> and Vieira's allies rejected the pact between the parties, saying that they would try to have it legally annulled.<ref>[http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=517120 "New political crisis looms in Guinea Bissau"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223303/http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=517120 |date=September 26, 2007 }}, AngolaPress, March 16, 2007.</ref> On 19 March, parliament passed a motion of no confidence against Gomes' government, with 54 votes in favor of the motion and 28 against it; eight deputies abstained, and ten were not present.<ref name=Censure>[http://www.izf.net/IZF/Actualite/RDP/Guinebissau.htm "Guinée Bissau: L'Assemblée nationale a voté lundi une motion de censure à l'encontre du gouvernement du Premier ministre Aristide Gomes, qui devrait être dissout dans les 72 heures par le président Joao Bernardo Vieira"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612112251/http://www.izf.net/IZF/Actualite/RDP/Guinebissau.htm |date=June 12, 2007 }}, AFP (izf.net), March 19, 2007.</ref><ref name=Demission>[http://www.izf.net/IZF/Actualite/RDP/Guinebissau.htm "Guinée-Bissau: le Premier ministre Aristide Gomes a présenté sa démission et celle de son gouvernement après le vote d'une motion de censure contre son gouvernement"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612112251/http://www.izf.net/IZF/Actualite/RDP/Guinebissau.htm |date=June 12, 2007 }}, AFP (izf.net), March 29, 2007 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> Although the three parties together held a total of 97 out of 100 seats, some of their deputies supported Gomes.<ref name=Censure/> Gomes announced on 29 March that he had presented his resignation to Vieira and said that he was still awaiting a response from Vieira. He said that he would be willing to continue as Prime Minister if he had Vieira's confidence, and he blamed the PRS for his difficult situation.<ref name=Demission/> On 9 April, Vieira appointed the three-party coalition's proposed candidate, Martinho Ndafa Kabi of the PAIGC, as the new prime minister,<ref name=Consensus>[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20070410123233285C650762 "Guinea-Bissau appoints consensus premier"], Reuters (''IOL''), April 10, 2007.</ref> and Kabi took office on 13 April.<ref>[http://english.people.com.cn/200704/14/eng20070414_366437.html "Martinho Ndafa Kabi takes office as Guinea Bissau PM"], Xinhua (''People's Daily Online''), April 14, 2007.</ref>
After leaving office, Gomes faced a legal issue regarding 734 kilograms of drugs that disappeared while he was Prime Minister. According to Gomes, he had ordered the drugs to be stored by the Treasury for safekeeping.<ref>[http://www.panapress.com/freenewspor.asp?code=por010187&dte=10/11/2007 "Ex-PM bissau-guineense interrogado sobre desaparecimento de droga"]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Panapress, November 10, 2007 {{in lang|pt}}.</ref>
A political party founded by Gomes, the Republican Party of Independence and Development (PRID), opened its constitutive congress on March 7, 2008. Gomes is the President of PRID, which supported Vieira<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180418031656/http://www.lemali.fr/afrique/politique/un-ex%11pm-cree-un-parti-politique-en-guinee%11bissau-2008030711970.html "Un ex-PM crée un parti politique en Guinée-Bissau"], Panapress, March 7, 2008 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> and participated in the November 2008 parliamentary election. PRID won three out of 100 seats in that election, while PAIGC won a majority of seats;<ref name=Carlos>Litos Sanca, [http://www.agenciabissau.com/portal.aspx?link=public/viewnews.ascx&menuindex=0&newsid=1530 "ARISTIDES GOMES RECONHECEU A VITÓRIA DE CARLOS GOMES NAS LEGISLATIVAS"]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Agência Bissau, 23 November 2008 {{in lang|pt}}.</ref><ref name=Defin>Litos Sanca, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081202162213/http://www.agenciabissau.com/portal.aspx?link=public%2Fviewnews.ascx&menuindex=0&newsid=1538 "RESULTADOS DEFINITIVOS E LISTA NOMINAL DOS DEPUTADOS DAS ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS DE 2008"]}}, Agência Bissau, November 27, 2008 {{in lang|pt}}.</ref> Gomes himself won a seat in the National People's Assembly as a PRID candidate in the Cantchungo e Caio constituency,<ref name=Defin/> and he accepted the results.<ref name=Carlos/>
Following Vieira's assassination on March 2, 2009, Gomes left Guinea-Bissau. He filed to run as the PRID candidate in the June 2009 presidential election, but on May 14, 2009, the Supreme Court announced his candidacy had been rejected on the grounds that he had been out of the country during the 90 days before he filed his candidacy.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130102234615/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h4IdMCCbrPM7FkeSugppwDez1ntg "Bissau: 12 candidats retenus pour la présidentielle, 8 exclus"], AFP, 14 May 2009 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{GuineaBPMs}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Aristides}} Category:1954 births Category:Members of the National People's Assembly (Guinea-Bissau) Category:Living people Category:Ministers of finance of Guinea-Bissau Category:Prime ministers of Guinea-Bissau Category:African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde politicians Category:People from Cacheu region