Two days short of the planned presidential election in Guinea, people were still waiting to know whether the poll will go ahead on Sunday or be postponed, after a series of meetings.
“Consultations are continuing this Friday, with the candidates, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde,” announced the new president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Malian General Siaka Toumani Sangare.
At the end of the morning, Sangare was due to go to the campaign headquarters of Diallo, a former prime minister who is standing for the first time in a presidential poll and who won 43% of votes in June’s first round.
Sangare wants later to meet the other candidate, veteran opposition figure Conde, who challenged successive regimes since independence from France in 1958, and who collected 18% of votes on June 27.
However, Conde was pursuing his campaign in the interior and was not due back in Conakry until the afternoon. “Whether he’s there or not, we’ll meet officials of his party,” Sangare told Agence France-Presse.
The CENI chief is determined to hear the views of all concerned in the West African country before announcing whether there will be a new delay in the poll, which was already postponed from September.
On Thursday, he met the main players responsible for organising the election, as well as representatives of civil society in the country, which is counting on electing a civilian to end years of dictatorship and military rule.
Sangare warned that the “follow-up committee monitoring preparations for the second round has concluded that the date of October 24 will be difficult to keep”.
Renowned trade unionist Rabiatou Serah Diallo, president of the National Transition Council that acts as a parliament, seemed favourable to a postponement.
“Can we keep to the date of October 24?” she asked reporters, after saying that she had expressed her “concern” to Sangare.
“The second round of the elections are of capital importance for our country and for Africa. We need to succeed, to hold transparent, democratic elections that won’t be contested,” she said, “because we don’t want any more violence in this country.”
Clashes
On Tuesday, Diallo’s supporters clashed with security forces, who used live ammunition and wounded several dozen people, according to witnesses and medical sources. Two people were killed.
The demonstrators wanted the dismissal of the former CENI president, Lounceny Camara, whom they judged to be to close to Conde, and who faces trial for alleged vote-rigging in the first round.
The nomination of Sangare by interim military ruler General Sekouba Konate has calmed down the situation.
Speaking for the National Council of Organisations in Guinean Civil Society, Aziz Diop said: “These elections are extremely important for Guinea to rejoin the concert of nations and begin harmonious development.
“But we would find a delay in the vote of one or two weeks perfectly normal, for technical reasons, because a week in the life of a nation doesn’t count for much if good preparations can guarantee peace,” he told AFP.
He added that the “electoral papers to centralise the results only arrived from Paris on the 16th and to distribute them to polling stations in a country like Guinea will take practically five days. Some people have still not received their voter’s card.”
On Thursday evening, Diallo told a crowd of his supporters gathered on the forecourt of the People’s Palace: “I want to ask you something, that is to have the behaviour and the dignity of voters who have already won the election. We need to fight violence and respect the adversary.”
On Friday, Conde was due in turn to stage a large rally to end his campaign. — AFP