Guinea’s capital Conakry was rocked by violence on Friday as supporters of opposition leader Cellou Diallo miffed with security forces who tried to disperse them after results showed President Alpha Conde winning the presidential election, reported Reuters.
According to preliminary results released by the election commission on Thursday, Conde, 82, won around twice as many votes as opposition candidate Diallo, with 37 of 38 districts counted.
The president’s decision to run for a third term has led to repeated protests over the past year, resulting in a number of deaths, including at least 17 in protests since Sunday’s vote.
Conde claims that a constitutional referendum pushed through in March has reset his two-term limit, but the opposition argue that he is breaking the law by holding onto power.
Diallo’s supporters claim they have found evidence of fraud and will contest the result in the constitutional court. They are accusing the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent President Conde.
Even before the official voting results were out, Diallo claimed that he won with a landslide despite irregularities, according to his own tally.
Meanwhile, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an opposition coalition, called for nationwide demonstrations against the election results from Monday.
“The FNDC invites … all democrats who love peace and justice to respond to this patriotic call to oust Alpha Conde and his mafia clan,” the opposition coalition said.
On Friday, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor issued a warning to the warring sides in Guinea that they could be prosecuted after fighting erupted.
“We are … continuing to closely monitor developments on the ground. The violence must stop,” Fatou Bensouda said in a tweet.
She added that anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages, and contributes in any other way to crime will be liable to prosecution either by ICC or the Guinean courts.
