Guinea’s President Alpha Conde has reportedly accepted his party’s nomination to run in October’s election, reported Reuters. Conde’s Rally of the Guinean People (RPG) party confirmed his nomination on national television, taking advantage of a new constitution to seek a third term.
“We have the immense privilege and joy of informing the Guinean population that (Conde) has granted our request: President Alpha Conde will be our candidate,” the RPG and allied parties said in statement read on national television.
The formal announcement ended months of speculation over Conde’s candidacy. The party had formally nominated him to run again back in August, but he had made no formal response then.
Notably, under Guinea’s constitution, presidents may only serve two terms. In 2010 and re-elected in 2015, Conde pushed through an amendment to the constitution that was approved by a referendum in March. The constitutional change reset the president’s term, enabling him to run for a third term in the vote set for October 18 in the poor West African state of 13 million.
Widespread protests against Conde’s third term have killed at least 30 people over the past year.
On Tuesday, Guinea’s opposition vowed to return to the streets after the ruling party confirmed Conde will seek a third term in office, a prospect that already sparked deadly mass protests.
“It is now clear even to the most sceptical that Mr. Alpha Conde who claims to have fought for decades for democracy in Guinea is none other than the biggest disappointment in the political history of our country,” the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) said in a statement.
The FNDC, an umbrella grouping of parties, labour unions and civil society groups, said its protest actions against a Conde candidacy would soon enter a “decisive phase”, without announcing a date for a new action.
