Riots in Guinea after opposition leader proclaimed himself the winner of the elections

The opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo moments before voting at his electoral college in Conakry on Sunday, October 18. POPE SECK / EFE

The opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo has declared himself the winner "in the first round" of the presidential elections held this Sunday in Guinea against his rival, the outgoing president Alpha Condé, despite the fact that there is still at least 48 hours until the Electoral Commission ( CENI) publish the first official results.

Thousands of Diallo supporters have come out to celebrate on the streets of Conakry, the capital, where law enforcement has tried to disperse some groups with tear gas.

The Government, for its part, has accused the opposition of "spreading false results", warns of "the risks of tension and violence that could cause" and assures that it will not give in "to blackmail."

This self-proclamation of Diallo is "premature, null and has no effect," Bakary Mansaré, vice president of CENI told the agency France Presse just a few hours later.

"The official proclamation recognized by the Constitution is that of the CENI and, after this, the results proclaimed by the Constitutional Court," he said.

"My dear compatriots, despite the anomalies that have affected the October 18 vote and in view of the results from the polls, I am victorious in the first round of this election," Diallo said at a press conference on Monday.

"I invite all my compatriots who love peace and justice to remain vigilant and mobilized to defend this victory for democracy," he added.

These statements come after the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), the main opposition party, has rejected the legitimacy of the CENI, which it accuses of being "subordinate to power", and has made its own recount.

The announcement of Diallo, 68, who was facing President Alpha Condé for the third time in an election, has provoked an immediate reaction of jubilation among thousands of his followers who have taken to the streets of the capital to celebrate it, in a more intense around the UFDG headquarters.

"We will not wait for the Constitutional Court, we will not wait for the CENI," opposition Ousmane Gaoual Diallo told reporters.

During the night, numerous web pages had been publishing partial results provided by the opposition party with positive results for Diallo, which already caused the first spontaneous celebrations.

Faced with this trickle of results, the governing Guinean-Rainbow People's Assembly (RPG) party issued a statement in which it accused the opposition of trying to “steal the victory” from Alpha Condé.

"It is almost impossible (Diallo's victory) if we look at the trends, in fact its leader has lost in his own electoral college," says the RPG.

Condé's prime minister and campaign manager, Kassory Fofana, assured that this dissemination of data supposes "creating the conditions for a situation of degradation that will escape all control".

The CENI had warned all parties to refrain from publishing data before they were officially proclaimed.

Likewise, the Executive has accused young people of the UFDG of having blocked streets with barricades to celebrate the victory of Diallo.

"This strategy of forced, premature and unjustified celebration has been meticulously planned long before the vote," he said in a statement condemning "these illegal practices, facilitated by the complicity of certain national and foreign media clearly destined to create chaos. and question the true results that will come out of the polls.

Finally he has made an appeal to citizenship on the part of citizens.

The fear of a post-electoral crisis such as the one that seems to be emerging in Guinea was one of the main fears of citizens and the international community, since Alpha Condé was running for a third term prohibited by the Constitution and that the opposition and a part of civil society consider it illegal.

To be able to do so, the president promoted a reform of the Magna Carta that, de facto, put the term count to zero.

The opposition led by Diallo has denounced the lack of transparency and adulteration of the entire electoral process, accusing the Government of an attempt to fraud to achieve Condé's permanence in power.