Guinea’s military ruler, Gen Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and initially promised not to contest elections, has been elected president after winning a landslide victory in the country’s weekend poll.
Initial results released on Tuesday by the General Directorate of Elections showed that Doumbouya secured 86.72 per cent of the votes cast in the first round, far above the threshold required to avoid a runoff.
Announcing the figures, the head of the election body, Djenabou Toure, said voter turnout stood at 80.95 per cent.
Doumbouya, 41, contested the election alongside eight other candidates, but key opposition figures were barred from running under Guinea’s new constitutional framework. Several opposition leaders had also urged their supporters to boycott the vote.
According to official partial results earlier read out by Toure on RTG public television, the junta leader dominated voting in the capital, Conakry, where he polled more than 80 per cent in several districts.
The results showed a similar pattern in other parts of the country, including Coyah, near Conakry, as well as Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the northwest, Koundara and Labe in the north, and Nzerekore in the southeast.
The outcome marks a dramatic reversal of Doumbouya’s earlier pledge to steer the mineral-rich but impoverished West African nation back to civilian rule by the end of 2024 without seeking elected office himself.
Despite the official figures, opposition groups and civil society organisations have raised serious concerns about the credibility of the poll.
A citizens’ movement advocating a return to civilian rule, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution, dismissed the exercise as a sham.
“A huge majority of Guineans chose to boycott the electoral charade,” the group said in a statement earlier.
Bellnews understands that some candidates who participated in the election also complained of widespread irregularities.
One of the contenders, Abdoulaye Yero Balde, denounced what he described as “serious irregularities”, alleging that his representatives were denied access to vote-counting centres.
He also accused election officials of “ballot stuffing” in some areas.
Another candidate, Faya Millimono, alleged “electoral banditry”, which he said was linked to undue influence exerted on voters.
From Coup To Ballot
Bellnews recalls that Doumbouya came to power in September 2021, when he led a coup that ousted Alpha Conde, Guinea’s first democratically elected president.
Since then, his administration has faced criticism over a clampdown on civil liberties, including the ban on protests, as well as the arrest, prosecution or exile of political opponents.
In late September, Guineans approved a new constitution in a referendum that allowed members of the junta to run for office, effectively clearing the path for Doumbouya’s candidacy.
The constitution also extended presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.
Several prominent opposition figures were excluded from the race under the new rules. Former prime minister and opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo was barred because he lives in exile and does not have his primary residence in Guinea.
Former president Alpha Conde, whom Doumbouya overthrew, and ex-prime minister Sidya Toure, both also living in exile, were excluded for being over the constitutional age limit of 80.