Attacks on polling stations, fires of electoral material, clashes between the police and opponents… Violence disturbed the holding of the constitutional referendum and legislative elections on Sunday March 22 in Guinea.
According to the opposition, the only objective of these elections is to allow the current president Alpha Condé to make his way towards a third mandate.
Police and gendarmes attacked
Scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., voting began at the time indicated in a school in downtown Conakry.
In Ratoma, on the outskirts of the Guinean capital, the situation quickly turned bad. Opposition supporters attacked gendarmes outside polling stations. Another school was attacked in the same area and electoral materials ransacked. In the absence of voters, according to an AFP journalist and witnesses.
Clashes have also occurred in other suburbs of Conakry such as Cosa, Hamdallaye, Dar Es Salaam and Lambanyi. Opposition youths attacked the police and gendarmes there, securing the vote.
Stoned, the police chased these young people and threw tear gas canisters at them. Shots were heard in several places in Conakry.
High tension climate
Joined Sunday by AFP, officials of the territorial administration [Interior] had not reacted.
"I hope that everything will happen in peace and tranquility, and that the Guinean people, as in 1958, will show their maturity", declared, after having voted in Conakry, president Alpha Condé, alluding to "no "from Guinea, a former French colony, in the referendum that paved the way for the independence of this West African country. He did not discuss the ongoing incidents.
I have just discharged my #civil duty on this historic day.
People of # Guinea, your choice will be decisive for the future of our country and that of all our brothers and sisters, all our daughters and sons.
#Vote calmly for a developing Guinea. pic.twitter.com/oX4eHhaQyV
Three weeks ago, the constitutional referendum and the legislative elections were postponed until the last minute in a climate of intense tension.
The new Constitution proposed by Alpha Condé limits the number of presidential terms to two, but his opponents accuse him of wanting to reset his counter.
The opposition had promised to boycott the vote and prevent it from being held, but the continuing unrest did not dissuade the government from organizing the polls, not even the recent appearance of the coronavirus.
Covid-19
In Guinea, two cases of contamination have been reported, one of which has been cured, the government announced on Saturday. The presence of the coronavirus is drawing attention in a country where Ebola killed 2,500 people between 2013 and 2016.
"I have the impression that our country takes things lightly," is moved by Amadou Oury Bah, banker and politician.
The ruling party always calls to vote. "We insist on strict compliance with hygienic rules [Sunday], said one of its managers, Fodé Cissé.
Several West African heads of state canceled their good offices mission during the week in Guinea. Before the vote initially scheduled for March 1, two large regional organizations had given up on deploying or recalled their observers.
With AFP
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