Tension as Guinea votes

CONAKRY: Long lines formed at guarded polling booths across Guinea yesterday as the country voted in its second free election in nearly 60 years since independence.

Guinea – Africa’s leading producer of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium – has a history of election violence linked to ethnic tension, including in the 2010 vote that brought President Alpha Conde to power.

The streets were calm in the capital, Conakry, yesterday after clashes between security forces and supporters of rival parties that left several dead and dozens injured.

Plainclothes policemen stood vigil at booths early in the day, while riot police took positions at street corners.

“I am happy to have voted. I hope everyone does it in peace and that all goes smoothly,” said Mamadouba Camara, the first voter in polling station 5.

But voters in the opposition neighbourhood of Hamdallaye complained that they had not received voting materials while officials had not yet arrived.

Conde is widely expected to win a second mandate, although analysts expect the results to be close enough to require a second round. His opponents, including main rival Cellou Dalein Diallo, had sought a postponement of the vote, citing irregularities.

But in an attempt to defuse tension between his mostly ethnic Peuhl supporters and those drawn from Conde’s Malinke community, Diallo said at the weekend that he would participate in the presidential election. – Reuters