By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Guinea’s junta leader, Mamady Doumbouya, has won the country’s presidential election after he secured a sweeping majority of the vote, initial results released by the election commission on Tuesday indicates.
Doumbouya, 41, who had pledged not to run for office after seizing power four years ago faced eight rivals for the presidency.
The main opposition leaders were however barred from running and they had urged their supporters to boycott the vote held on Sunday.
General Doumbouya reneged on his initial promise of not running for office and to hand the mineral-rich West African nation. He had promised to support a return to civilian rule by the end of 2024.
He secured 86.72 per cent of the first-round vote, according to the General Directorate of Elections, well over the threshold that would have required a runoff vote.
Voter turnout stood at 80.95 per cent, according to Djenabou Toure, head of the General Directorate of Elections.
Doumbouya had placed well ahead in districts of the capital Conakry, often winning more than 80 per cent, 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 northwest, northern Koundara and Labe, and Nzerekore in the southeast.
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 Monday.
In September 2021, Doumbouya led a coup to topple Guinea’s first freely elected president, Alpha Conde.
He has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests, while opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile.
Opposition candidate Abdoulaye Yero Balde denounced “serious irregularities”, citing in a statement late Monday in particular the refusal to grant his representatives access to vote-counting centres and allegations of “ballot stuffing” in some areas.
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.
