Guinea coup leader joins presidential race

Junta leader Mamady Doumbouya officially entered Guinea’s presidential race Monday, submitting his candidacy for the December 28 elections that are meant to restore constitutional order following the general’s 2021 coup.

Doumbouya has ruled the West African nation with an iron fist since first coming to power. Despite his initial promise to hand power back to civilians, he had been largely expected to run for president.

Arriving at the Supreme Court via armoured vehicle to formally hand in his candidacy, surrounded by special forces, the general then left without giving a statement.

Thousands of supporters from across the country, who had travelled to the capital by bus, gathered outside the court chanting “Mamady champion, Mamady president, Mamady already elected!”

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Impoverished Guinea has long been blighted by coups and violence from authoritarian governments.

However, it experienced a period of democratic transition following the November 2010 election of longtime opposition mainstay Alpha Conde, the country’s first freely elected president.

The period ended when Doumbouya seized power in September 2021 and overthrew Conde.

Guineans and the international community have been calling for the vote, which is meant to return the country of 14.5 million to constitutional order following its four years of military rule.

In a statement Monday the opposition Living Forces of Guinea (FVG) alliance condemned Doumbouya’s candidacy as “a disastrous turning point in our country’s history” and accused him of trampling on “the solemn commitments” he made not to run for president.

– Referendum approved –

At the end of September, Guineans approved a new constitution that both paved the way for the elections and also permitted Doumbouya to run for president.

Guinea’s opposition had called on voters to stay home, denouncing the referendum as a “charade” for the junta to keep its hold on power.

However, Guineans flooded to the polls and resoundingly chose to implement the constitution, with 89 percent supporting the charter, according to official results.

Since coming to power, Doumbouya, 40, has significantly restricted freedoms.

The junta has banned demonstrations and has arrested, prosecuted or pushed into exile several opposition leaders, some of whom were victims of forced disappearances.

Several media outlets have also been suspended and journalists arrested.

“Doumbouya’s governance has been marked by massive human rights violations, the blatant manipulation of the justice system, endemic corruption within its leadership team and drastic restrictions on civil liberties”, the FVG said in its statement.

The group called for mobilisation against “Doumbouya’s attempt to destroy our hard-won democratic gains, achieved at the cost of heavy sacrifices by our people”.

A number of other candidates also officially submitted their applications Monday, including Faya Millimono, leader of the centrist Liberal Bloc, the only party still critical of the junta.

Makale Camara, president of the National Alliance Front (FAN) party and former minister of foreign affairs, also submitted her candidacy.

She deflected criticism that she and other candidates were being allowed to run only to give the election a patina of authenticity, calling it a “narrow-minded view”.

Guinea, a former French colony, became the second country in sub-Saharan Africa after Ghana to gain independence in 1958, before the decolonisation wave of the 1960s.

AFP