Guinea voters endorse post-coup constitution, partial results show

According to partial results, the new constitution that would allow coup leader Mamady Doumbouya to run for president has overwhelmingly been supported by Guinean voters.

Djenabou Toure, head of Guinea’s General Directorate of Elections, reported to reporters late on Monday that the constitution appeared to have passed with 94.6% of the vote count. 91 percent of the votes cast in the referendum on Sunday were used as the base for those figures.

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Officials did not have a total turnout figure for the election, but they did count more than 4.8 million votes, which means that turnout had exceeded 70%.

The military government claimed that the referendum opened the door for a return to civilian rule despite the fact that critics called the outcomes a power grab. The December election is currently anticipated to be the first one.

Members of the opposition were against the referendum, according to Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, who was reporting from Conakry.

“Without incident, 45 000 security forces were deployed throughout Guinea, and the elections were held.” He claimed that the opposition had threatened to harass the voters by doing this.

Election for president

Doumbouya, a 40-year-old former member of the French Foreign Legion, wore sunglasses and a baseball cap, which featured a traditional mask drawing, which symbolizes fertility, while voting with his wife in a health center in Conakry.

In Guinea, one of the largest bauxite reserves in the world, in 2021, he seized control. In addition to the eight coups that swept West and Central Africa between 2020 and 2023, there was one more.

Members of the transitional government were barred from running for office by a charter that was adopted following the coup. However, the constitution did not include that language in the election results presentation on Sunday.

Doumbouya has not yet indicated his intention to run for office.

Cellou Dalein Diallo and the country’s two main opposition figures, including ex-deposed president Alpha Conde, both demanded a referendum boycott.

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of dumping political opponents and arbitrarily suspending media outlets while their political parties are currently suspended.