Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:GUINEA’S junta chief Gen Mamady Doumbouya has won the presidential election by a landslide, getting 86.7% of the vote, according to provisional results published by the election commission. The general is hoping to legitimise his rule after seizing power in a coup in 2021.
A civil society group calling for the return of civilian rule has condemned the election as a “charade” after Gen Doumbouya’s main rivals were barred from contesting, while opposition candidates said the poll was marred by irregularities. The Democratic Front of Guinea’s flagbearer, Abdoulaye Yero Balde, came a distant second with 6.6%, followed by the Liberal Bloc’s Faya Lansana Millimono with 2%, provisional results show.
On December 29, internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported that access to social media platforms TikTok, YouTube and Facebook had been restricted as Guineans waited for the full results. The 41-year-old general’s victory gives him a seven-year mandate. Should the results be challenged, the Supreme Court has eight days to validate them.
Millimono said that the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices”, citing the expulsion of poll observers, ballot stuffing and intimidation.
After overthrowing then-83-yearold President Alpha Condé in 2021, Gen Doumbouya promised not to seek election and to hand power to a civilian.
Djenabou Toure, the country’s top election official who announced the provisional results, put the voter turnout at more than 80%. However, a civil society group, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution, said in a statement that the turnout was low.
