By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Guinea’s President, Mamady Doumbouya has announced the dissolution of 40 political parties, including its three main challengers in a decree, the latest move in the government crackdown on civil liberties under the military ruler-turn-democrat.
Doumbouya, who came to power in a 2021 coup, was elected President in late December in an election which the opposition adjudged unfair.
Before transition to democratic rule, Doumbouya had ruled Guinea with an iron fist, as opposition has repeatedly alleged suppression of freedoms and ban on protests.
Several opposition figures and critics have been arrested, put on trial or forced into exile, while kidnappings and sudden disappearance of leaders of civil society organisations have multiplied.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralisation ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations”.
The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Guinea’s three main political parties, the UFDG led by its exiled leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, the RPG led by exiled ex-president Alpha Conde, and the UFR are among those dissolved.
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned”, the order said. That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos (and) emblems” associated with the groups, it added.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or to what entity.
Parties and civil society movements condemned the dissolution Saturday, slamming it as dictatorial.
UFDG communications coordinator Souleymane de Souza Konate said that “all red lines” had been crossed in “the final act of a true political farce whose objective is the establishment of a single-party state”.
Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), said the move “formalized a dictatorship now established as the mode of governance. The country is sinking into profound uncertainty.”
Two well-known FNDC activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 2024.
Doumbouya, 41, came to power in 2021 when he toppled Conde, Guinea’s first freely elected leader.
Guinea’s new constitution, which got approval in a referendum last September, allows junta members including Doumbouya to stand for election and increases presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.
Doumbouya was sworn in on January 17 as democratically elected President.
