Condé faces the votersDEMOCRACY does not run as deep throughout west Africa as it does in Nigeria, but there have been signs of progress since the region’s biggest country marked its first electoral transfer of power in March. Last month democrats thwarted a coup in Burkina Faso, putting it back on track for elections later this year. And on October 11th Guineans turned out in their millions to vote in only their second democratic presidential ballot in over 50 years.
Having previously endured decades of dictatorship under Ahmed Sékou Touré and his successors, Guineans are heartened. Their president, Alpha Condé, who won the country’s first free vote in 2010, can take some credit for pulling soldiers off the streets and returning them to barracks. He has improved electricity supplies and made mining contracts more transparent. Yet low commodity prices and a crippling battle against Ebola have dented his popularity and invigorated the opposition.
The latest poll, like the one that preceded it, pitted Mr Condé against Cellou Dalein Diallo, the main challenger among seven. Guinea’s young democracy is still ethnic in nature, and...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1RcsfnR
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