Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    February 24, 2012

Guinea Opposition Says Its Demands Ignored on Upcoming Election

   Journalist Mamadou Dian Balde says opposition accuses President Conde's
   government of refusing to replace electoral commission chair

   James Butty
   Guineans wait for the results of the election in front of the town hall
   of Motato, a suburb of Conakry where electoral officials collected and
   verified ballots from regional polling stations, 9 Nov 2010
   Photo: AFP
   Guineans wait for the results of the election in front of the town hall
   of Motato, a suburb of Conakry where electoral officials collected and
   verified ballots from regional polling stations, 9 Nov 2010.

   Guinea's Interior Minister said the country will hold parliamentary
   elections in May, with or without the consent of the opposition.

   The elections were first set to take place last December, but were
   postponed to satisfy opposition concerns, including a reform of the
   country's electoral commission.

   Dialogue between the government and the opposition on how the election
   will be conducted concluded Wednesday.

   Interior Minister Alhassane Conde reportedly told the French News
   Agency that the elections will go as planned and the opposition is not
   forced to participate.

   Mamadou Dian Balde is editor-in-chief of the Independent and Democrat
   newspapers. He said the Interior Minister's reported announcement is
   not official because the opposition says it was not consulted.

   'I was speaking to a political leader, Abubakar Sylla. He said that the
   opposition will organize a demonstration to protest the government
   policy because they [the opposition] think that the government does not
   want to organize a transparent election,' he said.

   Balde said dialogue between the government and the opposition in
   preparing for the election concluded Wednesday.

   But, he said the government refused to give in to opposition demands to
   replace Louceny Camara as chairman of the Guinea's electoral
   commission.

   'The President, Alpha Conde, does not agree to change the president of
   that institution [electoral commission], Louceny Camara. The opposition
   thinks that this guy is working for the government and they fear that,
   if the electoral commission organizes elections, the government will
   win [a] majority in these parliamentary elections,' Balde said.

   Balde said Conde's reported announcement that the elections will go on
   as planned is apparently taken from the recent examples of elections in
   Ivory Coast and Gabon.

   'The government wants take the example about what happened in Cote
   d'Ivoire and Gabon. In those countries, the opposition didn't go to the
   parliamentary elections, so they organized elections with small parties
   to represent opposition. But, the principle opposition leaders did not
   attend those elections,' Balde said.

.