Guinea opposition demands presidential vote be annulled

Guinea’s opposition on Monday called for a re-run of this weekend’s first-round presidential vote, rejecting the Sunday ballot even before the results were counted and pledging to take to the streets in protest.

“We cannot accept this ballot, we request it be annulled. We will not accept the results of this vote,” opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said at a press conference also attended by the six other candidates challenging incumbent President Alpha Conde.

“I believe this is the position of the seven candidates you have here,” added Diallo.

“We will not give in, we have the right to demonstrate, we will demonstrate,” he added.

There were no official turnout figures on Sunday but voters appeared to have turned out massively for the ballot, which was only the second democratic presidential election in the west African country since independence in 1958.

Depsite clashes between Conde and Diallo supporters in the final days of the campaign, voting was peaceful though the opposition complained about logistical problems.

Even before the election, opposition parties had warned of fraud and vote-rigging and accused the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) of mismanaging the poll.