Alpha Condé is president of Guinea
CONAKRY, Oct 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Preliminary results of Guinea’s weekend election for four of the country’s 38 voting districts released by electoral commission chief Kabinet Cisse showed a strong lead for current president Alpha Condé who is seeking a controversial third term.
Kabinet Cissé, the Electoral Commission Chief, read out the results as follows, “Professor Alpha Condé, RPG-Arc-en-ciel, votes obtained: 104,450, or 49.13%. Mamadou Cellou Dalein Diallo, UFDG, 85.658, or 40,29%.”
Meanwhile, the main challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo, who had claimed victory Monday dismissed it as fraudulent.
Celebrations in Conakry of Diallo’s self-proclaimed victory quickly descended into violent clashes with security forces, in which several youngsters were shot dead, opposition officials said.
Since Diallo public self-proclaimed victory, security forces dressed in riot gear surrounded Diallo’s residence in the capital in what could appear to be the government’s response.
Fode Oussou Fofana, vice-president of the UFDG, “The current state of our counting of more than 80% clearly indicates that our victory in the first round is indisputable.”
The election is said to have been transparent, lawful and properly conducted – as per statements from the African Union’s mission head in Guinea and the ECOWAS monitoring mission head
National results are expected later this week.
Addressing journalists in the capital, Conakry, Augustin Matata Ponyo, the AU’s head of mission in Guinea, said the ballot was held “in transparency”.
“The elections were held in a transparent, secure, calm and peaceful environment, once again demonstrating the maturity of the Guinean people and political actors”, he asserted.
Tension is building in the country ahead of the release of official results. Diallo’s supporters have held celebrations in the capital.
Francis Behanzin, ECOWAS’ Peace and Security commissioner urged candidates “to resort to legal avenues” if they are aggrieved.
Eight civilians and two policemen were killed in Guinea’s capital Conakry in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters after a tense presidential election with results showing President Alpha Conde in the lead.
Guinea’s security ministry announced the death toll on Wednesday following the weekend’s vote.
“This strategy of chaos [was] orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18,” the ministry said in a statement, adding numerous people were wounded in the unrest, without providing a specific figure.
Opposition supporters burned barricades in the streets on Wednesday after initial results showed Conde ahead in vote-counting.
“At least three people died today [Wednesday] that I saw with my own eyes … and about 10 others were wounded,” Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, a security official, said.
Hadjiratou Barry, a resident of an area where clashes were taking place, also said her brother had been shot dead. A local doctor, who declined to be named, said he received two dead bodies and nine injured people at his clinic.
Supporters of Conde’s main rival, Cellou Dalein Diallo, set alight piles of old furniture and burned tyres in some opposition neighbourhoods of Conakry. Police dispersed protesters with tear gas.
“Clashes broke out on the Prince’s Road. A policeman was killed,” Security Minister Damantang Albert Camara said, referring to a major thoroughfare in the capital that runs through opposition strongholds.
Diallo has claimed victory in the vote based on his campaign’s tallies.
The push for a third term for Conde, 82, has sparked repeated protests over the past year, resulting in dozens of deaths. He says a constitutional referendum in March reset his two-term limit; his opponents say he is breaking the law by holding onto power.
In a social media post, Conde on Wednesday appealed for “calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process”. — NNN-AGENCIES
