News / Africa

Guinea Delays Sunday Presidential Election

TEXT SIZE - +

Guinea is postponing Sunday's second-round presidential election.

Electoral Commission spokesman Thierno Ceydou Bayo says the vote has been postponed, in part, because Guinea is awaiting delivery of 450,000 new polling cards that are scheduled to arrive Sunday or Monday.

The decision to delay this second-round run-off between former prime minister Cellou Diallo and long-time opposition leader Alpha Conde came after interim Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore met with both candidates.

No new date for the vote was announced. Bayo says the electoral commission needs two weeks to prepare well.

Prospects for delaying the vote rose when the electoral commission suspended campaigning Sunday following two days of violence between Diallo and Conde supporters.

The clashes followed last week's conviction of two senior electoral officials accused of falsifying results from June's first round of voting.

Conde's party brought the charges against the electoral commission president and his head of planning, who were found guilty of withholding results from some polling stations. Diallo's party says the court decision was meant to disrupt the electoral commission and delay Sunday's vote in which Diallo is seen as the frontrunner.

The convicted electoral commission president died Tuesday in Paris after an undisclosed illness, further complicating this week's preparations for the vote.

Acting military ruler General Sekouba Konate has been trying to return Guinea to civilian rule nearly two years after Captain Moussa Dadis Camara took power in a military coup. General Konate Wednesday reaffirmed his support for the electoral process and says the military will support whoever emerges as the winner.

You May Like

India, China Pledge to Overcome Border Tensions

Indian prime minister and Chinese premier attempt to move past tense standoff in the Himalayas during Delhi talks More

Burmese President Opens US Visit with VOA Town Hall Meeting

Ahead of his meeting with President Obama Monday, Thein Sein answered questions on human rights and economic development in his country More

Video Washington Week: Focus on Burma, US Government Scandals

President Thein Sein visits the White House on Monday, Congressional probes of multiple scandals are continuing More

This forum has been closed.
Comments
     
There are no comments in this forum. Be first and add one

Featured Videos

Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Video

Video Boston Bomber Spent 6 Months in Russia’s Most Violent Republic

The news of the Boston Marathon bombings circled the globe, and resonated here in Dagestan, a majority Muslim republic in Russia, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Last year, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of two brothers suspected of the bombings and a long-time Boston resident, returned to Dagestan, where he had lived for a year during his youth. Dagestan was the land of his maternal ancestors. But in the last two years, this republic of 3 million people has gained notoriety as the region with the highest level of political and religious violence in all of Russia. VOA's James Brooke reports from Makhachkala, Russia.