La-Guinea Ultimate Elections – 9/19/2010

La-Guinea Ultimate Elections – 9/19/2010

Campaigning has begun in earnest after a deferential lull in honor of Ramadan and eid’l Fitr.

The RPG party of Hon. Alpha Conde’ has obtained the support and alliance of some 90 other parties including those of Hons. Lansana Kouyate’, Lounceny Fall, Bah Ousmane, Mrs. Rougui Barry, Papa Koly Kourouma, and Mohamed Toure’. These alloyed parties have formed themselves into The Rainbow Alliance to elect Hon. Alpha Conde’ President of La-Guinea.

The UFDG party of Hon. Cellou Dalein Diallo has also obtained the support and alliance of some 40 other parties including those of Hons. Sidya Toure’, Ibrahima Abe Sylla, Mamadou Bah Baadicko, Mohamed Soumah, and Etienne Soropogui.

We recall that the first round of voting was marred by comprehensive fraud and other graft. La-Guinea’s “Independent” Electoral Commission (CENI) goes into this ultimate round of voting with her reputation thoroughly sullied. The results of the first round which put Hon cellou Dalein Diallo farther ahead of the pack with 43% of the vote had removed the votes of some four precincts which heavily favored Hon. Alpha Conde and the RPG. The reason for the exclusion of those votes was that the verbal attestations of some of the voters hadn’t been turned in to the CENI. They were later discovered in the office of Mr. Boubacarr Diallo of the CENI. Just a week ago, the La-Guinea courts found the President of the CENI, Ben Sekou Sylla, and Mr. Boubacarr Diallo guilty of spectacular fraud in the elections and they were sentenced to a year in prison, and fined 2 million Guinean francs each. Mr. Sylla had long since been replaced as president of the CENI and his sentence came while he sought medical treatment in France.

Because of these and many other inadequacies of the CENI, it has been decided that the country’s department of the interior and collectives (Matap) should play a more prominent and expanded role to keep the CENI’s excesses in check and to fill the voids of the latter’s deficiencies. That didn’t come easily because the UFDG claimed a constitutional ammendment was underway by the Prime Minister Jean Marie Dore’. The UFDG was to later yield for sobriety sakes.

The two presidential candidates visited Ouagadougou at the invitation of ECOWAS transition mediator President Blaise Compaore. They agreed to honor the results of a free, fair, and transparent elections for the second and ultimate round of voting. However, just days following the commencement of campaigning, several episodes of violence resulting in hundreds injured and one death made their way into the electoral discourse of La-Guinea. Interim President Sekouba Konate had to proclaim a suspension of campaign meetings until a safe environment can be re-installed by both parties and their alliances.

Today, we are informed that the convicted former President of ther CENI, Ben Sekou Sylla, has died in saint Louis hospital in Paris France. May the Lord afford him peaceful repose.