Guinea’s junta chief elected president after opposition boycott | Guinea

The head of Guinea’s junta, Mamady Doumbouya, who had pledged not to run for office after seizing power four years ago, has been elected president after the country’s electoral commission said he had secured a sweeping majority of the vote.

Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote held over the weekend.

The general’s decision to stand saw him reneging on his initial vow not to run for office and to hand the mineral-rich but poor west African country back to civilian rule by the end of 2024.

He secured 86.72% of the first-round vote, the country’s election commission said late on Tuesday, well over the threshold that would trigger a runoff vote.

Voter turnout stood at 80.95%, according to Djenabou Toure, the head of the general directorate of elections.

Doumbouya had placed well ahead in districts of the capital, Conakry, often winning more than 80%, according to official partial results read out by Toure earlier on RTG public television.

He had a similar lead in several other areas, including Coyah, a town near Conakry, and in other parts of the country, such as Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the north-west, northern Koundara and Labe, and Nzerekore in the south-east.

However, a citizens’ movement calling for the return of civilian rule questioned the figure. “A huge majority of Guineans chose to boycott the electoral charade,” the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution said in a statement on Monday.

In September 2021, Doumbouya led a coup to topple Guinea’s first freely elected president, Alpha Condé. He has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests, while opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile.

Candidate Abdoulaye Yero Balde denounced “serious irregularities” in the poll. Another candidate, Faya Millimono, complained of “electoral banditry” linked, he said, to influence exerted on voters.

In late September, Guineans approved a new constitution in a referendum that permitted junta members to run for office, paving the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy. It also lengthened presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.

The opposition leader and former prime minister, Cellou Dalein Diallo, was one of three opposition leaders barred from standing by the new constitution. Diallo was excluded because he lives in exile and his primary residence is outside of Guinea.