Guinea Junta Leader Doumbouya Asserts Strong Position In Controversial Election Amid Social Media Restrictions
Mamady Doumbouya, the military leader of Guinea, wins a contentious election as social media access becomes more restricted and critics point out inconsistencies.
According to preliminary official results, Gen. Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea’s junta, has acquired a decisive lead in a highly contentious presidential election in which his principal rivals were disqualified.
Four years after seizing power in a military coup, Gen. Doumbouya is attempting to use the voting booth to legitimize his leadership. Opposition leaders claim the poll was tainted by significant anomalies, while civil society organizations advocating for a restoration to civilian governance have denounced the election as a “charade.”
While Guineans awaited the release of the complete results, access to popular social media sites including Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok had been blocked, according to a Monday report from internet monitoring group NetBlocks. The junta’s detractors see the restrictions as an attempt to stifle criticism and restrict the dissemination of opposing viewpoints on the internet, despite the lack of an official reason.
Gen. Doumbouya had more than 80% of the vote in many districts of the city, Conakry, according to preliminary results announced on state television by Djenabou Toure, head of the General Directorate of Elections. Large margins have also been observed by him in a number of other regions of the nation, such as Nzerekore in the south-east, Koundara and Labe in the north, Gaoual in the north-west, and Boffa and Fria in the west.
Following the ouster of Alpha Condé in 2021, Gen. Doumbouya made a public pledge to return power to civilians and to not run for office again. “None of us involved in this transition, including myself, will run for office.” We take our word extremely seriously as soldiers,” he stated at the time.
Later, when a new constitution was enacted in September, allowing him to run for president, that vow was renounced. Eight other candidates ran in Sunday’s election, but the absence of the UFDG and the RPG Arc en Ciel, Guinea’s two largest opposition parties, has left the race without any contenders with substantial political support.
Although some young people in Guinea support Gen. Doumbouya, his administration has come under fire for suppressing opposition activities, outlawing protests, and tightening media regulations in the run-up to the election. The general has used the Condé administration’s economic mismanagement, corruption, and violations of human rights as justifications for a 2021 takeover.
Guinea has some of the richest iron-ore deposits and the greatest bauxite reserves in the world. With much anticipation, authorities began the enormous Simandou iron-ore project last month. According to World Bank figures, over half of the nation’s population still lives in poverty in spite of its abundance of natural resources.
