Guinea’s Conde set for victory in preliminary results

A preliminary result has shown that Guinean President Alpha Conde will win Sunday’s presidential election in Guinea. Preliminary results released late Thursday showed Conde as the winner of a controversial election that keeps him in office as president for a third term. However, following a bitterly fought election that has led to deadly violence, Conde’s opposition […]

A preliminary result has shown that Guinean President Alpha Conde will win Sunday’s presidential election in Guinea.

Preliminary results released late Thursday showed Conde as the winner of a controversial election that keeps him in office as president for a third term.

However, following a bitterly fought election that has led to deadly violence, Conde’s opposition said the count was rigged.

The 82-year-old president is said to have a lead of 1.2 million votes with 37 of 38 electoral districts counted, said Reuters.

But the main opposition candidate, Cellou Dalein Diallo, has complained of large-scale fraud and declared himself the winner.

Diallo, 68, a former prime minister who finished runner-up to Conde in the 2010 and 2015 elections, said Conde is breaking the law by seeking a third term and that he will contest the results of the election in constitutional court.

He said he has evidence of electoral fraud, accusing the government of manipulating the vote count in Conde’s favor.

Meanwhile, cities across Guinea have been wracked by violence since Sunday’s vote, with Diallo’s supporters clashing with government forces. At least 10 people have been reported killed.

Conde, a former opposition leader who was sentenced to death in 1970 by Marxist President Sekou Toure, finally won the top job in 2010. His election raised hopes for democratic progress in the country but critics say he has stifled dissent.

In March, the octogenarian president pushed through a new constitution which he argued would modernise the country. It also allowed him to bypass a two-term limit for presidents.

Security forces repressed mass protests against the move from October last year, killing dozens of people.

On Wednesday, plumes of black smoke rose over an opposition stronghold in the capital Conakry, where protesters erected barricades and lit fires.

Youths in alleyways also hurled stones at police officers stationed along a main road, who fired back tear gas.

“This strategy of chaos [was] orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18,” Guinea’s security ministry said, adding that many people had been injured and property damaged.

In a statement, Conde appealed for “calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process.”

Also, Friday’s violence followed a series of clashes on Thursday in which four people were killed, according to Security Minister Damantang Albert Camara.

Internet and phone access were severely disrupted on Friday morning, residents and digital rights groups said. Authorities in Guinea, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, have in the past cut the internet during times of unrest.

The government was not available to comment on internet access on Friday, but network data for monitoring group NetBlocks showed that the internet was disrupted from 0730 GMT on Friday morning, including on leading cellular operator Orange.

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy in a statement called on all parties to end the violence, saying, election disputes should be resolved peacefully through legal channels.