Guinea-Bissau’s main political party on Saturday rejected a proposal by the West African country’s military chiefs for the formation of a transitional government following a coup this week.

“The PAIGC rejects any anti-constitutional or anti-democratic proposal of a solution to this crisis,” the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) said in a statement.

The PAIGC, which holds two-thirds of the seats in the country’s parliament, also called for the release of its presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Junior who was detained by soldiers in Thursday’s coup.

Thursday’s putsch in the small, poor and coup-prone state was the second such military power grab in West Africa in a month, following a coup in Mali in March that has raised fears of worsening instability in the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon led global condemnation of the coup and called for civilian rule to be restored in Guinea-Bissau.

Members of Guinea-Bissau’s previous civilian government were either detained or in hiding after soldiers on Thursday attacked the house of former prime minister and presidential front-runner Carlos Gomes Junior, before a presidential election run-off was due to be held on April 29.

A spokesman for the armed forces said Gomes Junior and interim President Raimundo Pereira had been detained but were “well” and the military had proposed to the country’s political parties that new elections be held.

Gomes Junior, candidate for the ruling PAIGC party, was unpopular with military chiefs because he backed an initiative to reform and downsize the bloated army, which is accused of involvement in drug-trafficking by western security agencies.

REUTERS