Guinea’s Supreme Court has confirmed that the country’s junta leader, Mamady Doumbouya, along with eight other candidates, can participate in the forthcoming presidential election next month.
When Doumbouya assumed control of the West African nation in 2021, he pledged not to seek office.
However, a newly instituted constitution, advocated by the military-led administration and ratified in a September referendum, has now paved the way for his potential candidacy.
Two formidable potential contenders, the erstwhile President Alpha Conde and the former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, find themselves disqualified due to age and residency stipulations enshrined in the new constitution.
Doumbouya put his name forward last week, a move that could keep him in power for another five years. He is running as an independent.
He will compete against relatively low-profile candidates such as Abdoulaye Yero Balde, former minister of higher education and deputy governor of the central bank, and Faya Millimono, an opposition leader critical of the junta.
Lansana Kouyate, a former prime minister whose candidacy was not accepted, plans to appeal, his party said.
Doumbouya’s government in 2022 proposed a two-year transition to elections after negotiating with regional bloc ECOWAS, but it missed that deadline.
The election scheduled for December 28 is intended to cap a formal transition to civilian rule.
Reuters/Oyenike Oyeniyi