The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The shadow of violence hovers over the elections in Guinea

2020-10-18T02:42:49.416Z


President Condé opts for a third term against opponent Diallo, who doubts the transparency of the processSupporters of President Alpha Condé during his last campaign rally, last Friday, October 16, at a stadium in Conakry.JOHN WESSELS / AFP Guinea, with just over 12 million inhabitants, is holding a high-risk presidential election this Sunday. The determination of President Alpha Condé, 82, to run for a third term despite being prohibited in the Constitution causes this country, which has lived thro


Supporters of President Alpha Condé during his last campaign rally, last Friday, October 16, at a stadium in Conakry.JOHN WESSELS / AFP

Guinea, with just over 12 million inhabitants, is holding a high-risk presidential election this Sunday.

The determination of President Alpha Condé, 82, to run for a third term despite being prohibited in the Constitution causes this country, which has lived through 50 years of dictatorships and barely a decade of democracy, to appear, once again, to the abyss of instability.

His main rival is former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, who agreed to run for office despite considering them adulterated.

Dozens of people have died in the last year in anti-government demonstrations, 90 according to the opposition, and the danger of a post-election crisis is high.

Furthermore, the threat of ethnic division overshadows the entire process.

The electoral campaign has been plagued with incidents, especially in the Kankan region, one of President Condé's fiefdoms.

His supporters prevented entry to Diallo's electoral caravan;

and the headquarters of the opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, was looted and burned, as well as shops and businesses of its supporters.

"Diallo faced a difficult dilemma, but he agreed to go to the polls still believing there was going to be no fair play," said Gilles Yabi, a political analyst at the

African

think tank

Wathi.

In recent days, the government closed without explanation the borders with three neighboring countries, including Senegal, where a large diaspora lives, and has put obstacles to voting by mail.

In addition, it blocked the entrances and exits of the capital, Conakry, and the use of social networks and the Internet has been very limited.

The opposition has denounced the obstacles to its work of supervising the voting records within the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Situated in the tail of the least developed countries in the world, with more than half the population below the poverty line, Guinea is nevertheless extraordinarily rich.

Not only does it have the world's largest bauxite reserve and its subsoil is a mineral scandal, as evidenced by its numerous copper, iron and gold exploitations, but its fertile land and abundant water endow it with enormous agricultural, forestry and hydrological potential.

"There is no other explanation for this poverty than the bad government and its two diabolical corollaries, corruption and incompetence," says the renowned Guinean writer and opponent Tierno Monenembo.

The extraction of mining wealth is mostly in the hands of Russian, Chinese, Australian and American companies.

After Alpha Condé came to power in 2010, then re-elected in 2015, and the implementation of reforms aimed at attracting foreign investment and favoring the business climate, Guinea began to grow at a rate of up to 7% per year.

The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic was a sudden stop, but three years ago it was back on the path of growth.

However, eight out of 10 Guineans live from underdeveloped agriculture or operate in small informal businesses.

"There has been no visible improvement in people's living conditions," says Yabi.

Access to water or electricity remains a huge challenge in many neighborhoods in the capital or in the interior towns.

In recent years, thousands of young Guineans have led a major exodus to Europe.

The controversial reform of the Constitution last March through a referendum boycotted by the opposition opened the door for Condé to run for a third term against the opinion of his rivals, who believe that his candidacy is illegal.

With an electoral census revised downwards and discussed by the opposition that remains at 5.4 million voters, this Sunday's elections are presented as a closed duel between Condé and Diallo.

The UN has warned of the danger of ethnic content speeches during the campaign.

The first is Malinké and the second Peul, two of the most important communities in the country, and both have strong support within their groups.

"But let's not confuse diversity with division, we have never had a civil war, what unites Guineans is stronger than what could separate them," Monenembo disagrees.

Condé's coming to power in 2010 after the dictatorships of Lansana Conté and Moussa Dadis Camara generated many expectations of democratic advancement and the outgoing president defends his two terms as the period of greatest political freedom and economic growth in Guinea in all its history, with the construction of important infrastructures, such as two large energy production dams.

"But you don't go from a succession of military regimes to a stable and functional democratic regime overnight," Yabi concludes.

Monenembo is much more critical: “Condé's supposed political and human qualities are purely media.

That he wants a third term even if it means plunging Guinea into chaos can only surprise those who don't know him. "

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-10-18

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-20T04:42:02.568Z
News/Politics 2024-02-19T09:01:59.879Z
Life/Entertain 2024-02-19T06:11:29.566Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.