Guinea’s President Alpha Condé has won a second term. The country’s election commission announced results six days after polling drew curtains.
Alpha Conde, 77, won in the first round with about 58% of votes cast. Main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, who has denounced the vote as fraudulent, won 31%. He has called for peaceful protests against the outcome.
European Union observers said the vote was valid despite some logistical problems. Candidates now have eight days to file complaints before the constitutional court validates the results. However, Mr Diallo said in a statement he would not appeal to the court. « I will invite the other candidates and all the citizens who are the real victims of this electoral hold-up to organise, conforming to the law, peaceful demonstrations to express our disapproval of this situation, » he said.
Mr Diallo pulled out of the elections on Wednesday alleging fraud. The allegations included ballot boxes being stuffed and some 400 polling stations staying closed. Figures released on Friday showed a turnout of about 66% of Guinea’s six million registered voters. It was Guinea’s second democratic presidential election since independence from France in 1958.
For recall, Alpha Condé born on March 4 1938 is a Guinean politician who has been president of Guinea since December 2010. He is well known for spending decades in opposition to a succession of regimes, unsuccessfully running against President Lansana Conté in the 1993 and 1998 presidential polls and leading the rally of the Guinean people (RGP), an opposition party. Appearing on the scene once again in 2010 for elections, Condé was elected as President of Guinea in a second round of voting. When he took duties on December, he therefore became the first freely elected president in the country’s history.
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