What You Need to Know
Mamadi Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea’s military council, has won the presidency with a significant 86.72% in the first round of elections. This victory follows a four-year transitional period after a coup that brought him to power. Voter turnout was reported at 80.95%, despite opposition calls for a boycott. The final results are expected from the Supreme Court within eight days.
Africa. Mamadi Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea’s military council, has won the presidency with a significant 86.72% in the first round of elections, according to preliminary results announced by the National Election Authority. The election took place last Sunday, concluding a four-year transitional period following the coup that brought Doumbouya to power in the bauxite and iron-rich African nation.
Voter turnout was reported at 80.95%, according to Djénabou Touré, head of the National Election Authority, which is lower than the figure announced last Sunday at the close of polling stations.
Abdullah Yero Baldé, leader of the Guinean Democratic Front (Frondh), came in second with 6.59% of the votes.
Earlier, four of the eight candidates competing against the military leader acknowledged their defeat and congratulated Doumbouya on his first-round victory.
The Supreme Court is expected to announce the final results within eight days.
Many independent observers noted that the voting occurred in a calm atmosphere without violence.
The opposition had called for a boycott of the elections, the first since the September 2021 coup that ousted President Alpha Condé, who had been in power since 2010.
Condé, along with former Prime Ministers Sidya Touré and Dalin Diallo, who all reside outside Guinea, were not allowed to run in the elections. Diallo described this election as a “mock election” aimed at legitimizing the “seizure” of power.
Last Friday, the United Nations condemned what it termed the “intimidation” of opposition figures that marked the electoral campaign.
Initially, the military council had pledged to return power to civilians by the end of 2024, but it has not fulfilled this promise.
At the end of September, Guineans approved a new constitution in a referendum that the opposition called for a boycott of, yet the official turnout was reported at 91%. The new constitution allows military council members to run for office and extends the presidential term from five to seven years, renewable once.
Guinea has experienced significant political upheaval in recent years, particularly following the September 2021 coup that ousted President Alpha Condé, who had been in power since 2010. The military council, led by Doumbouya, initially promised a return to civilian rule by the end of 2024, but this commitment has faced skepticism. The recent elections are the first since the coup, and the new constitution approved in a controversial referendum has allowed military members to run for office, paving the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy.
