African observers say Guinea’s elections are being held correctly and the opposition rejects fraud

African screens mentioned on Tuesday that Guyea’s weekend elections had been carried out correctly, however the political opposition to the established Alpha Condé, which has already claimed victory, dismissed it as fraudulent.

Preliminary outcomes for 4 of the nation’s 38 constituencies launched by electoral commissioner Cupboard Cisse late on Tuesday confirmed Condé a robust lead over his primary challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo, who claimed victory on Monday.

In three of the 4 districts, Condés secured greater than the 50 % wanted to keep away from a run-off vote, although an election commissioner informed AFP it was “unimaginable to extrapolate” to the ultimate nationwide outcome, which is predicted later this week.

“Alpha Condéis is doing every little thing in its energy to vary poll leads to his favor,” Diallo’s marketing campaign director Fode Oussou Fofana informed reporters within the capital, Conakry.

The opposition marketing campaign has set the stage for an election battle, with Fofana accusing the federal government of “large-scale fraud” in counting poll papers from the extremely controversial October 18 vote.

Condé, 82, is looking for a controversial third presidency, a transfer that has sparked months of lethal unrest within the West African nation.

However earlier Tuesday, screens from regional African blocs mentioned the vote was largely honest.

Augustin Matata Ponyo, the African Union’s mission chief in Guinea, mentioned the vote befell “in transparency”. The pinnacle of the West African ECOWAS monitoring mission additionally mentioned the vote was authorized.

Celebration in Conakry of Diallo’s self-proclaimed victory shortly fell into violent clashes with safety forces, through which a number of younger individuals had been shot useless, opposition officers mentioned.

AFP was unable to independently verify the deaths, however an AFP journalist noticed three injured individuals and heard gunshots in a suburb of Conakry on Monday night time.

In the meantime, in an obvious response to Diallo’s self-proclaimed victory, safety forces wearing riot gear surrounded his home within the capital. He tweeted that he was trapped inside.

I used to be blocked on my own: my house was situated by the police and the gendarmerie who banned all entry and exit. pic.twitter.com/pphBF8Rdqw

– Cellou Dalein Diallo (@Cellou_UFDG) October 20, 2020

‘Irresponsible and harmful’

Safety forces killed dozens of individuals in protests beginning in October final 12 months towards a Condéthird interval.

Though voting day was largely calm, Diallo’s self-proclaimed election victory has improved tensions within the former French colony of round 13 million individuals.

The federal government insists that the vote was honest and that solely the official electoral authority can declare the outcomes.

Condé’s RPG social gathering additionally known as Diallo’s transfer “irresponsible and harmful” on Monday.

The worldwide group additionally expressed concern. The United Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS with 15 nations known as the early declaration of outcomes “regrettable” in a joint assertion on Monday.

“This example is just not conducive to sustaining calm,” the assertion mentioned.

However on Tuesday, the communications director of Diallo’s UFDG social gathering, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, mentioned the social gathering’s personal evaluation of polling knowledge collected from particular person stations confirmed that the opposition chief had received over 50 % of the vote.

The official election record experiences despatched to the electoral authority are “fully completely different” from the precise outcomes, he informed AFP.

Twelve candidates are vying for the presidency, however Condé and Diallo are frontrunners.

‘Chaos’

The Guinean authorities mentioned in a press release on Monday that the opposition “clearly aimed to wreak havoc and query the true outcomes”.

A lot of the deep opposition to Condé stems from his bid for a 3rd time period.

He pushed by way of a brand new structure in March, which he claimed would modernize the nation. However it additionally allowed him to bypass a two-term restrict for presidents.

After a long time as an opposition activist, CondéGuinea grew to become the primary democratically elected president in 2010, and he received once more in 2015.

Rights teams now accuse him of pushing towards authoritarianism.

Diallo was former Prime Minister below authoritarian chief Lansana Conte.

He unsuccessfully challenged Condé in each 2010 and 2015, in elections his social gathering activists are satisfied they had been rigged for.

Second spherical

An acrimonistic political marketing campaign within the ballot earlier than the vote noticed Condé and Diallo commerce insults, in addition to violent incidents broke out in some components of the nation.

The marketing campaign additionally raised the specter of ethnic strife, with Condé accused of exploiting divisions for electoral functions – an accusation he denies.

Guinea’s insurance policies are primarily drawn alongside ethnic strains: the president’s base is usually from the ethnic Malinke group and Diallo’s from the Fulani individuals.

A second spherical of voting is scheduled for November 24, if crucial.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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