Guinea: The second round is set for October 24

By on October 7, 2010

The vote had been abruptly cancelled few days before the second round last month, and speculation was very intense threatening the future of this election supposed to be the first democratic one in the country’s history.

The first round in June had seen 24 candidates compete in a vote widely seen as transparent and fair in a country subject to authoritarian rule since independence from France in 1958. But the confrontation then escalated and shifted to the deep ethnic schism, and the two remaining candidates failed to determine a date for the second round. The leading candidate (44% of the votes), Cellou Dalein Diallo, accused the interim government in support his rival, by postponing the vote in order to allow Alpha Condé to adjust his popularity and rise his image in the polls. Diallo  the Peul, the main ethnic group in the country, representing about 40% of the ten million inhabitants, and  his rival,  the veteran opponent  Alpha Condé, the Malinke, the second largest ethnic group of Guinea, couldn’t calm their supporters who collided in serious clashes causing about 50 wounded persons. These clashes have raised fears of conflagration on ethnic lines between the Fulani and the Malinke, and postponed again the Election Day, now scheduled for the 24TH of October, four months after the first tour of the presidential election. The government of transition and the independent national electoral Commission (CENI) have just cut for this date.

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