Guinea Junta Leader Declared Winner of Presidential Election
Mamdi Doumbouya secured almost 87% of the vote, while several opposition figures were either barred from contesting or were in exile. Doumbouya seized power after staging a coup in 2021.
Guinea’s military leader Mamdi Doumbouya was declared winner of the presidential election held over the weekend, provisional results showed Tuesday.
Doumbouya, who seized power in a coup in 2021, won 86.72% of the vote, according to the General Directorate of Elections.
He was widely expected to win election.
Major opposition figures were either barred or were in exile, leaving a fragmented field with no strong challengers. Opposition leaders had called for a boycott of the vote.
Election widely seen as effort to legitimize Doumbouya’s stay in power
Ahead of Sunday’s vote, analysts said a weakened opposition all but ensured Doumbouya’s victory, with the election widely seen as an effort to legitimize his hold on power.
The election commission said turnout was 80.95%, a figure disputed by opposition groups.
Yero Balde, a former government minister, came a distant second with 6.51% of the vote.
Opposition decry ‘electoral charade’
Doumbouya came to power in the mineral-rich but impoverished west African nation in a 2021 coup that ousted former President Alpha Conde.
After initially ruling out a run for office and promising a return to civilian rule by the end of 2024, Doumbouya reversed course after a new constitution in September lifted the ban on military officers seeking office and extended presidential terms to seven years.
Civil liberties advocates have raised concerns over a crackdown on protesters and a deterioration in press freedom under Doumbouya’s rule.
A citizen’s collective, the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution, said many voters stayed away from the “electoral charade.”
Africa grapples with a spate of coups
The vote was held in the backdrop of a spate of coups or coup attempts in Africa, with military officers having taken on popular discontent with deteriorating security, underwhelming economies or disputed elections to seize power.
By DW
