Guinea’s junta chief elected president after opposition boycott | Guinea
Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea’s junta, who vowed not to run for office after coming to power four years ago, was elected president after the country’s election commission announced that he had won the overwhelming majority of votes.
Doumbouya, 41, faces eight challengers for the presidency but main opposition leaders have been barred from running and called for a boycott of the weekend’s elections.
The general’s decision to run showed he had reneged on his original vow not to run for office and to return the mineral-rich but impoverished West African country to civilian rule by the end of 2024.
He received 86.72% of the first-round vote, well above the threshold that would trigger a second round of voting, the country’s election commission said late Tuesday.
According to Djenabou Toure, head of the election directorate general, voter turnout stood at 80.95 percent.
According to the official partial results, which Toure read earlier on RTG public television, Doumbouya was well ahead, often winning more than 80% in some parts of the capital Conakry.
It had similar leadership in other parts of the country, such as Coyah, a town near Conakry, and Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the northwest, Koundara and Labe in the north, and Nzerekore in the southeast.
But a citizens’ movement calling for the return of civilian rule has questioned this figure. “The vast majority of Guineans chose to boycott the electoral charade,” the National Front for Defense of the Constitution said in a statement on Monday.
In September 2021, Doumbouya led a coup to overthrow Alpha Condé, Guinea’s first freely elected president. He cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests while his opponents were arrested, tried or exiled.
Candidate Abdoulaye Yero Balde condemned “serious irregularities” in the poll. Fellow candidate Faya Millimono said she complained about “electoral banditry” linked to influence exerted on voters.
In late September, Guineans approved a new constitution in a referendum that allowed junta members to run for office, paving the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy. Additionally, presidential terms of office were extended from five to seven years, renewable once.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo was one of three opposition leaders banned from adhering to the new constitution. Diallo was ostracized because he lived in exile and his primary residence was outside Guinea.
