Guinea’s navy junta has created a brand new establishment that might be answerable for managing elections, together with a constitutional referendum in September and the final and presidential elections set for December
DAKAR, Senegal — Guinea’s navy junta has created a brand new establishment that might be answerable for managing elections, together with a constitutional referendum in September and the final and presidential elections set for December.
Guinea is one in every of several West African countries the place the navy has taken energy and delayed a return to civilian rule. Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, in energy since 2021, agreed in 2022 to launch a democratic transition after a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline.
The ruling junta’s failure to fulfill the deadline led to opposition protests that paralyzed Guinea’s capital Conakry in January.
The Directorate Normal of Elections, or DGE, might be accountable, amongst different duties, for organizing elections, managing the electoral register and making certain electoral equity, junta chief Doumbouya introduced in a decree learn on state tv late Saturday.
The 2 heads of the establishment might be appointed by presidential decree, he added. The DGE will even signify Guinea in subregional, regional, and worldwide electoral our bodies.
Final month, Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah mentioned the final and presidential elections will happen in December 2025. He additionally confirmed the group of a referendum to undertake a brand new structure on Sept. 21, as introduced by the junta in April.
There are considerations in regards to the credibility of the elections. The navy regime dissolved more than 50 political parties final yr in a transfer it claimed was to “clear up the political chessboard.”
It has additionally tightened the grip on unbiased media, rights teams say, with social networks and personal radio stations usually minimize off and data websites interrupted or suspended for a number of months with out clarification, whereas journalists face assaults and arrests.