BISSAU, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- An atmosphere of calm is observed in Bissau, capital of the West African country Guinea-Bissau on Saturday ahead of the presidential runoff election which is to be held on Sunday.

During the runoff, more than 700,000 voters are expected to cast votes and choose a president for the next five years between Domingos Simoes Pereira, candidate of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), and Umaro Sissoco Embalo, supported by the Movement for Democratic Alternation (MADEM-G15).

On Nov. 29, the National Election Commission of Guinea-Bissau (NEC) annonced the results of the first round of presidential election, which showed former prime ministers Domingos Simoes Pereira and Umaro Sissoco Embalo won repectively 40.13 percent and 27.65 percent of the votes. The incumbent president Jose Mario Vaz only obtained 12.41 percent.

During the first round of the presidential election held on Nov. 24, Pereira won 6 of the 9 regions across the country, including the regions of Bissau and Oio where most of the voters are registered. According to the numbers given by the National Election Commission, among the 761,676 registered voters, more than 40 percent are from regions of Bissau and Oio.

The other candidate Umaro Sissoco Embalo of MADEM G-15, won the first round in the regions of Bafata and Gabu where most residents are muslims and his ethnic group Fula. The incumbent president Jose Mario Vaz had announced his support to Embalo, along with Carlos Gomes Junior.

Facing a high abstention rate of 25 percent during the first round, president of the NEC Jose Pedro Sambu called on Friday Bissau-Guineans to fully participate in Sunday's voting.

He affirmed "all technical, logistical and security conditions are already in place".

The NEC estimated more than 100 international observers from the African Union, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), among others, would be present.

The civil society would also supervise the voting process. According to the spokeswoman of the organizations of civil society Silvina Tavares, "the process will be supervised before and after the voting".

As for measures to ensure the security of the voting, police commissioner Armando Nhaga annonced more than 7,000 policemen and ECOWAS forces would be deployed.

The vote is set to kick off on Sunday at 7 am local time, and finish at 5 pm.

The presidential election is seen as a key step to end the existing political crisis that burst in 2015 between President Vaz who dissolved the then government led by Domingos Simoes Pereira, his main political rival.

Since its independance from Portugal in 1974, the West African country has struggled with political crisis, with only Vaz finishing a five-year term as president. Enditem

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