Nov 06, 2015 Guinea’s constitutional court recently validated President Alpha Conde’s victory at the poll after dismissing claims of irregularities by the opposition parties.
This was announced by Kelefa Sall, President of the Guinea’s Constitutional court.
“(The constitutional court) therefore declares Mr Alpha Conde, candidate presented by RPG arc en ciel, having obtained 2,284,827 of the expressed votes, whether 57.84 percent, elected President of the Republic for the mandate going from December 21, 2015 to December 21, 2020,”
After the election results were announced, the nine-member court had to weigh complaints from opposition candidates before certifying them.
The court judged complaints lodged by opposition candidates Faya Lansana Millimono, Papa Koly Kourouma and Lansana Kouyate as being unfounded.
But after the victory comes the work.
President Conde faces major challenges in his second term, amongst which are the lingering Ebola outbreak, a slump in metals prices and uniting the two major ethnic groups in the country.
Mohamed Camara, a political analyst shared his opinion on the state of the country saying:
“I think the first thing that must be done is to calm down the city, reach out with a free hand and hold a gathering and compliant speech toward the opposition who must in return carefully listen in order for each entity to bring its contribution to the edification of the country,”
Guinean politics have mainly been drawn along ethnic lines. The opposition coalition is broadly supported by members of the Peul ethnicity while the incumbent government is supported by the Malinke.
Despite the diversity, Ahmed Abdalla Kaba said he was happy the election tension didn’t escalate into violence.
“I am very happy everything went quietly with only few tensions in some neighborhood, still I’m a little bit disappointed in this regard as we are all Guineans but if you ever pass by some area one will ask you what ethnic group you belong to. It is not normal. I would like all Guineans to hold their hands, ignore the politicians and above all to learn how to live together,”