Guinea: new date for the legislative

The president of the electoral commission in Guinea announced Saturday that the parliamentary elections delayed for months would take place on February 16, 2020.

Such an announcement, however, remained questionable.

The same president of the electoral commission had proposed in September the date of 28 December. The opposition and its representatives in the commission had denounced an unrealistic project and serving, according to her, the project loaned to President Alpha Condé to seek his own succession in 2020.

The International Organization of la Francophonie concluded that the date of December 28 was « to be reconsidered ». The OIF is an actor accompanying the electoral process, responsible for the implementation of the recommendations of an audit of the electoral register.

This time however, the new schedule was adopted unanimously by the 16 members of the commission present (out of 17), said the commission in a statement.

This new date is stated as Guinea is undergoing a deadly agitation since a collective of opposition parties, unions and civil society called to protest to block a possible third term of President Conde.

The current Parliament took office in January 2014 for five years. Elections were due to take place in late 2018 or early 2019, but did not take place for political and technical reasons, amid heated quarrels between the majority of President Conde and the opposition.

The updating of the electoral register has become a major obstacle. In January, Mr. Condé extended the term of Parliament until the installation of a new Parliament on an unspecified date.

The president of the commission Amadou Salif Kebe said that Guinea had acquired the electoral material claimed by the electoral audit. As for the lists, their review has begun and the feedback is « very comforting », he said according to the text of his intervention.

The commission « renews its willingness to organize a credible, inclusive and transparent election. The challenge is certainly important, but I am convinced that it is well within the reach of the sovereign people of Guinea, « he said.