Twelve candidates are in the running, including outgoing president Alpha Condé, who is seeking a contested third term, and his main opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo. The key elements of this election.

Presidential election in Guinea: five million voters called to the polls in a contested ballot

Preparations for the vote in Matoto (Conakry) for the double ballot on March 22 in Guinea.

C. Valade / RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

7 min

Twelve candidates are in the running, including outgoing president Alpha Condé, who is seeking a contested third term, and his main opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo.

The key elements of this election.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Conakry,

Moctar Bah

If the vote will take place throughout the national territory, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., many Guineans in the diaspora will not be able to speak.

It is only in eleven embassies and consulates in Africa that they will vote, according to a source at the electoral commission.

This will not be the case in Senegal or even in Angola, two countries where many Guinean nationals reside.

The main issue of this election is the renewal of Alpha Condé for a third term, or alternation at the head of the country.

This battle, the Head of State, who amended the Constitution during a controversial referendum to be able to stand for re-election, hopes to win in the first round, with a new "

knockout

", as he had theorized. in 2015.

► Read also:

Presidential in Guinea: Alpha Condé, portrait of a political animal

He will face eleven other candidates, including Cellou Dalein Diallo of the UFDG, his opponent for the third time, who campaigned on this slogan: "

it is time

► Read also:

Presidential in Guinea: Cellou Dalein Diallo, a technocrat who went into politics

Then come, for the best known, Ousmane Kaba from PADES, Ousmane Doré, Kabélé Camara or even Abé Sylla ... and two women, Makalé Camara and Makalé Traoré.

All ready to challenge the "

professor

" for the supreme office.

Climate of mistrust

If the Ceni ensures that everything is ready for the vote,

commissioners of the institution have expressed doubts about the credibility of the process

and a climate of mistrust reigns in the headquarters of the political parties.

A few hours before the opening of the polling stations, the different camps accuse each other of maintaining the tension by acts of intimidation towards their respective delegates.

In the ranks of the UFDG, the main opposition party, they denounce "

a unilateral organization

" of the composition of the polling stations to the provision of a single report for all the candidates.

Everything is done to create discord,

" sighs its secretary general Aliou Condé.

On the side of the RPG, the party in power, we are however rather serene about the conduct of the voting operations.

It is during the counting and centralization of the results that the spokesperson of the party, Domani Doré, fears tensions.

The opposition has already warned that it will proclaim its own results while only the Ceni is entitled to do so

", she worries.

“

No one can prevent citizens from communicating,

” replies Aliou Condé.

These two main formations plan to deploy delegates in each of the 425 polling stations of the prefecture.

Their officials promise to be vigilant about the transparency of the ballot, as this report from our special

correspondent Charlotte Idrac

in Labé indicates:

Assessors will be vigilant

Charlotte idrac

In a statement released yesterday, Amnesty International calls on the authorities to

protect the safety of the entire population, as the election campaign has been marked by violence and human rights violations

■

An election after months of contestation

With our special correspondent in Kankan,

Bineta Diagne

October 2019. Trade unionists, young people and politicians decide to unite around the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC).

Their goal: to prevent the outgoing president, Alpha Condé, from modifying the Constitution, in order to run for a third term.

The FNDC manages to mobilize many citizens.

But these gatherings ended in clashes with the police and

arrests

The FNDC then opts for “dead city days”.

At the same time, the political dialogue is tense: based on the recommendations of an OIF report, the opposition questions the reliability of the file, which according to it includes anomalies.

On March 22, the opposition called for a boycott of the referendum and legislative elections.

Believing that the electoral process is not transparent, the international community does not send observers.

The "yes" in favor of a new Constitution finally won with 91% of the votes against a background of violence: there are officially around thirty

dead

in Forest Guinea.

Then at the end of August, twist: after heated internal debates,

the opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo entered the presidential race

The leader of the UFDG wants to "

fight at the polls against a third term of the outgoing president

It thus breaks

with the strategy of the FNDC, whose demonstrations are now struggling to mobilize.

The ECOWAS, which finally supported the Electoral Commission in the overhaul of the file, considers that it is now of "

satisfactory quality

Despite this, some members of the Ceni and the opposition continue to doubt the reliability of the electoral process.

Presidential election in Guinea: five million voters called to the polls in a contested ballot

Presidential election in Guinea: five million voters called to the polls in a contested ballot

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