Guinea’s military leader Mamady Doumbouya has been elected president with a large majority, according to provisional results released Tuesday by the national election commission, despite earlier pledges not to seek office after taking power in a 2021 coup.
Doumbouya, 41, won 86.72 per cent of the vote in the first round, well above the level required to avoid a runoff, the General Directorate of Elections said. Voter turnout was put at 80.95 per cent, according to the agency’s head, Djenabou Toure.
The junta chief faced eight other candidates, but several prominent opposition figures were barred from contesting the election and had called on voters to boycott the poll held over the weekend.
Doumbouya had previously promised to return the mineral-rich but impoverished West African country to civilian rule by the end of 2024. His decision to stand marked a reversal of that commitment.
Partial official results showed him winning more than 80 per cent of the vote in many districts of the capital, Conakry, with similarly strong performances reported in nearby Coyah and in regions including Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the northwest, Koundara and Labe in the north, and Nzerekore in the southeast.
However, a civil society group campaigning for a return to civilian government disputed the official figures. The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution said in a statement on Monday that a large proportion of Guineans had boycotted what it described as an “electoral charade”.
Doumbouya came to power in September 2021 after leading a coup that removed Guinea’s first democratically elected president, Alpha Conde. Since then, his administration has restricted civil liberties, banned demonstrations and seen political opponents arrested, prosecuted or forced into exile.
Several candidates alleged irregularities during the vote. Abdoulaye Yero Balde said authorities had blocked his representatives from accessing vote-counting centres and alleged ballot stuffing in some areas. Another contender, Faya Millimono, accused officials of “electoral banditry”, claiming voters had been subjected to improper influence.
The election followed the adoption of a new constitution in a September referendum that allowed members of the ruling junta to run for office, clearing the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy. The constitution also extended presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo was among those barred from standing under the new rules, which require candidates to reside primarily in Guinea. Former president Alpha Conde and ex-prime minister Sidya Toure were also excluded, as both are living in exile and exceed the new age limit of 80.
