By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Guinea’s junta chief who vowed not to run for office after seizing power four years ago, has a large lead in the country’s presidential elections held at the weekend, initial results published late Monday indicate.
Mamady Doumbouya, 41, faced eight other contestants for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged their supporters to boycott the vote.
Doumbouya reneged on his initial vow of not running for office and to hand over the mineral-rich west African nation back to civilian rule by the end of 2024.
According to initial results read out on national television RTG by the head of the General Directorate of Elections, Djenabou Toure, the junta leader placed well ahead in districts of the capital Conakry, often winning more than 80 percent.
He also 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.
Turnout in Sunday’s polls was 85 percent, Toure said.
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 faced criticism over crackdown on civil liberties and for banning protests. Opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile while political parties have been banned.
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 “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.
