As the Guinean presidential election draws closer, the population is growing increasingly nervous. Many fear a repetition of the 2010 unrest and violent clashes in the capital Conakry. On October 11 some six million Guineans, about half the population of the West African nation, will elect a new president. There are eight candidates, including incumbent president Alpha Conde and his two main rivals, opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, of the Union of Democratric Forces in Guinea (UFDG), and Sydia Toure of the Union of Republican Forces (UFR), a former prime minister. However, the opposition lacks a clear position. First there was a boycott threat, then the demand for a postponement, then the threats were withdrawn. A little over a week before the election, the seven candidates running against Conde called for the poll to be postponed by a week, claiming there were mistakes in the electoral register. Vincente Foucher, a Guinea expert at the International Crisis Group, says the idea is not unreasonable “when you see for how many months this election has provoked controversy, demonstrations, violence and arrests.”
But just a few days later, the opposition announced that, even without a postponement, it would not boycott the election – even if the electoral process was marred by serious errors and anomalies. At a press conference, a representative of the united opposition stressed the wish for a free, transparent and credible poll. The opposition was skeptical about the election outcome in both 2010 and 2013, says Foucher, “and when you read the reports by election observers from the European Union and the African Union, then many questions are indeed raised about the legitimacy of the polls.”
Many voters are convinced that the upcoming election will be no different. “The government’s cheating machinery is already working at full capacity,” said a supporter of Cellou Dalein Diallo in Labe, the opposition leader’s stronghold. “They have put enough money aside to bribe people and distribute voting papers already marked in favor of the governing RPG party (Assembly of the People of Guinea).”
Full Article: Guinea heads to the polls amidst fears of post-election violence | Africa | DW.COM | 07.10.2015.