Guinea Opposition Leader Declares Victory In Presidential Poll

Votes are being counted in Guinea’s presidential election, following months of deadly unrest and a campaign marred by violence. The poll appears to have been largely peaceful but dozens of opposition supporters say they had trouble casting their ballots. At the age of 82, President Alpha Conde amended the constitution allowing him to run for a third mandate, despite widespread protests. 

Meanwhile, Guinea’s opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo declared on Monday, without waiting for official results, that he had won a presidential election against incumbent Alpha Conde. Speaking at a press conference in the capital Conakry a day after the hotly contested first-round vote, Diallo said he had emerged “victorious” despite “anomalies which marred the ballot”. Bakary Mansare, the vice-president of Guinea’s electoral authority said that Diallo’s self-proclaimed victory was “null and void”.