Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission has announced it cannot finalize the results of the November 23 presidential and legislative elections after armed intruders broke into its headquarters, stealing ballots, tampering with tallies, and destroying servers containing crucial data.

The incident occurred on November 26, just as provisional results were due. Commission official Idrissa Djalo said the body was “not in material or logistic conditions to follow through with the electoral process.”

The disruption coincided with a military coup, in which army officers declared “total control,” detained President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and installed former army chief Gen. Horta Inta-a as transitional leader. Embaló fled first to Senegal and later to Congo, denouncing the events as a “coup d’état.” Opposition figures, however, accused him of orchestrating the takeover to avoid electoral defeat.

Both Embaló, 53, seeking re-election, and challenger Fernando Dias da Costa had prematurely claimed victory in the tense poll, which had already been delayed from September. The exclusion of the main opposition party, PAIGC, fueled accusations of fraud in the coup-prone nation of 2.2 million people.

Regional bodies swiftly condemned the developments. ECOWAS and the African Union demanded Embaló’s release and a return to constitutional order. Inta-a has since appointed a 28-member transitional government dominated by Embaló’s allies, slated to govern for one year.

The suspension of results risks destabilizing the wider region. Guinea-Bissau, plagued by poverty and entrenched in the West African cocaine trade, has endured nine coups or attempted coups since independence in 1974. Nigeria has granted asylum to Dias da Costa, further complicating the political fallout.