Guinea-Bissau's electoral commission confirmed Tuesday, for the second time, that Umaro Sissoco Embalo won December's presidential runoff, amid a dispute with the losing candidate in the unstable West African state. Embalo won 53.55 percent of the votes in the December 29 presidential contest, while Domingos Simoes Pereira, from Guinea-Bissau's traditional ruling party, won 46.45 percent, according to the National Electoral Commission (CNE). But Pereira contested the result arguing that the votes were manipulated. Last month, the CNE published "definitive results" which confirmed Embalo's win. The dispute has lingered, however, and the West Africa bloc ECOWAS -- the traditional mediator in Guinea-Bissau's internecine politics -- asked the CNE last week to verify its results "on an exceptional basis". On Tuesday, the electoral commission confirmed Embalo as the winner for the second time, officials from both his and Pereira's PAIGC party said. The PAIGC said on Twitter on Tuesday that it "condemned the lack of transparency of the CNE" and suggested that it would launch an appeal. Guinea-Bissau has known little but coups and instability since its independence from Portugal in 1974. The country has long struggled with poverty and corruption and it has also become a transit route for South American cocaine heading to Europe. aye-str/siu/eml/pvh