Guinea opposition claim election fraud

CONAKRY: All seven opposition leaders who contested Guinea’s presidential election against incumbent Alpha Conde said the result should be annulled because of fraud.

Their declaration is likely to stoke tension in the West African country, which has a history of political violence.

Conde, who rose to power in a military coup, is favoured to win a second term, although the result from Sunday’s vote may be close enough to require a second round.

Early results announced by radio stations so far showed Conde in the lead.

The opposition candidates, including the main opposition leader, Cellou Dalein Diallo, told a news conference that there were numerous examples of fraud in the election.

Diallo said voters registered this year in the city of Labe in central Guinea received no voting cards and only those who voted in 2010 could cast their ballots on Sunday.

“The election was a masquerade which started yesterday and still continues today at the central commission level. In these conditions, we again demand that the election be scrapped because we cannot recognise results issued through this process,” Diallo said.

“We have the right to protest. We will do it. That must be clearly understood,” he said.

Two people were killed and at least 33 were wounded last Friday in clashes between Conde and Diallo supporters.

In another sign of opposition discontent, former prime minister Sidya Toure, one of the election’s leading candidates, told private radio that he was withdrawing from the electoral process any delegates he had.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for calm and urged all sides to refrain from statements that could lead to violence.

Conde’s director of communication, Moustapha Naite, said the electoral commission should do its work.

“If the opposition parties have complaints, their duty is to use legal means and inform the constitutional court,” Naite said.

The International Organisation of the Francophonie, whose experts have been assisting the electoral commission, praised Sunday’s vote but urged caution. – Reuters