Calm Guinea-Bissau votes to replace slain leader

By Alberto Dabo

BISSAU (Reuters) - People in Guinea-Bissau voted on Sunday in an election to replace the slain president of the West African state, hoping for a chance to end years of turmoil worsened by military infighting and cocaine smuggling cartels.

President Joao Bernardo Vieira was shot dead by soldiers in March in apparent revenge for the killing of the head of the army. Eleven candidates are standing on Sunday. One top contender was killed during the election campaign.

There were no reports of trouble on Sunday and voters queued in Bissau, the run-down coastal capital of the former Portuguese colony.

"This is a great day. I'm voting for peace, calm and stability," said trader Binta Diallo. "I want a president able to bring peace and quiet and to end the criminality."

The vote is a test not only for the country of around 1.6 million people, but for a region worried at the retreat of democracy after coups in Guinea and Mauritania and a deepening political crisis in Niger.

Whoever wins, however, faces the challenge of pulling the state back from failure and reforming security forces that are little more than rival militias.

"The military has been far too dominant in Bissau-Guinean politics to date, so there is a real need for the international community to offer support for capacity building," said Kissy Agyeman-Togobo of IHS Global Insight.

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