Guinea’s junta leader, Mamady Doumbouya, has been elected president after securing a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election, according to provisional results released Tuesday by the national election commission.
Gatekeepers News reports that Doumbouya, 41, won 86.72 per cent of the vote in the first round, well above the threshold required to avoid a runoff, the General Directorate of Elections said. Voter turnout was put at 80.95 per cent.
The election marks a reversal of Doumbouya’s earlier pledge not to seek elected office after leading a military coup that ousted Guinea’s first democratically elected president, Alpha Condé, in September 2021. He had also promised to return the mineral-rich but impoverished West African nation to civilian rule by the end of 2024.
Doumbouya contested the election against eight other candidates, though major opposition figures were barred from running and had called for a boycott of the poll held over the weekend.
Official results showed the general leading comfortably in several districts of the capital, Conakry, often polling above 80 per cent. He also recorded strong performances in other parts of the country, including Coyah, Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the northwest, Koundara and Labé in the north, and Nzérékoré in the southeast.
However, a citizens’ movement advocating a return to civilian rule rejected the figures. The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution said in a statement on Monday that “a huge majority of Guineans chose to boycott the electoral charade.”
Some rival candidates also raised concerns over the conduct of the election. Abdoulaye Yero Baldé alleged “serious irregularities,” including denial of access to vote-counting centres for his representatives and reports of ballot stuffing in some areas.
Another candidate, Faya Millimono, accused authorities of “electoral banditry,” claiming voters were unduly influenced.
Doumbouya’s candidacy was made possible by a new constitution approved in a referendum in late September. The constitution allows members of the ruling junta to contest elections and extends presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.
Several prominent opposition figures were excluded from the race under the new constitutional provisions. Former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo was barred for living in exile, while ex-president Alpha Condé and former prime minister Sidya Touré were disqualified for exceeding the maximum age limit of 80.
Since seizing power, Doumbouya has faced criticism over restrictions on civil liberties, including bans on protests and the arrest, prosecution or exile of political opponents.
AFP
