Presidential election in Guinea: Alpha Condé declared winner, outbreak of violence in Conakry

The outgoing Guinean president, Alpha Condé, 82, was re-elected on Saturday.

He thus won a controversial third term, according to the provisional results of the electoral commission (CENI).

An announcement that immediately led to violence in Conakry, the capital.

According to CENI President Kabinet Cissé, Alpha Condé won 59.49% of the vote in the October 18 poll.

His main rival Cellou Dalein Diallo, 68, who proclaimed himself the winner of the presidential election before the publication of the results, obtained 33.5% of the vote, according to the CENI.

"We are going to protest against this electoral hold-up by the street", declared his opponent: "We are in the process of putting together files, with great difficulty since our premises are occupied, we do not have access to our documents, but we let's go to the Constitutional Court anyway, without having too many illusions.

"

Five dead in clashes on Friday

As soon as the results were announced, clashes broke out between the police and demonstrators;

Red berets were in support of the police and gendarmes and shots were heard.

A challenge that has not remained limited to the borders of Guinea.

In Paris, several demonstrators gathered at Place du Trocadéro (16th century) to protest against Condé's re-election.

🇫🇷 FLASH - Hundreds of people gathered on the Place du # Trocadéro in #Paris to protest against the 3rd consecutive mandate of #AlphaConde in #Guinee.

(via @CharlesBaudry) # GuineeVote2020 pic.twitter.com/3GmyEP6BA6

- Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) October 24, 2020

The tension in the country was escalated on Friday.

The violence killing at least five people in this West African country with a particularly troubled and bloody history.

The authorities requisitioned the army while new clashes between young supporters of Diallo and the security forces had broken out in Conakry and in the provinces.

The call to order of the International Criminal Court

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, warned Guinean political actors, reminding them "that whoever commits, orders, incites, encourages and contributes" to crimes as defined by the statutes of the ICC , “Can be prosecuted by the Guinean courts or by the ICC”.

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Guinea has been in a deep crisis for a year.

Months of mobilization against the possibility of a third term of Alpha Condé, repeatedly harshly repressed, have resulted in dozens of civilian deaths.

Diallo, beaten by Condé in 2010 and 2015, proclaimed his victory on Monday based on the data reported by his supporters sent to the polling stations so as not to rely on the electoral commission and the Constitutional Court, subservient in power according to him.

Internet censored?

The authorities accuse him of blowing on the embers.

In a video posted on social networks, Alpha Condé's party, the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), calls Diallo an “arsonist”, and speaks of “a call for murder and civil war” on his part. .

Guinea found itself on Friday with a severely degraded Internet.

Netblocks, a group that monitors such cuts, explained that they suspected the action of the Guinean state.

This would be to control the dissemination of information at a critical moment.

Such censorship had already been observed in March during a constitutional referendum and controversial legislative elections.

Alpha Condé was not yet officially a candidate for his succession.

The new constitution aimed to modernize the country, he said.

It marks the advent of a new Republic, which therefore resets, he believes, his presidential counter to zero and allows him to represent himself.