Mamadu Ture Kuruma(Interim) Presidential elections were held in Guinea-Bissau on 18 March 2012 following the death of President Malam Bacai Sanhá on 9 January.

A run-off was set to be held on 29 April after being postponed by a week as announced by electoral commission chief Desejado Lima Dacosta.

[9] However, the same night fears of military-linked violence increased with the assassination of the former head of military intelligence, Colonel Samba Diallo, just before midnight at a bar in the national capital of Bissau.

[13][14] The Director General of the Judicial Police Joao Biague announced that the former head of intelligence, Samba Diallo, was assassinated shortly after the polls closed.

[15] On 12 April, elements within the factionalised army staged a coup d'état, leading to the arrest of both second round candidates, amongst others, by the Military Command and calls for a national unity government.