CENI Announces Numbers for Matoto, A Full Set of Provisional Numbers Are to Be Announced Tomorrow Night -8PM

After agonizing days and hours pouring over real ballots, fake ballots, real PVs, fake PVs, having droop-eyed Alhassane Conde strut around like a field marshall supervising the vote count and the EU observers who walked around for weeks with their mouths agape because they couldn’t believe what they were seeing AND who stayed overnight at the centralization station to prevent the Guinean electoral commission, the CENI, and the RPG from continuing to commit fraud, there was hardly a dull or fair moment in Guinea’s 2013 electoral farce.

 

The CENI provided numbers* for Matoto today. Concerning single-member constituencies, Sidya Toure (UFR) was elected with 112,437 votes against against the RPG (ruling party) candidate with 110,709 votes.  

 

Regarding proportional representation, the ruling party (RPG) is leading with 103,363 votes, followed by the main opposition party, UFDG which collected 70,999 votes. The third political force in the country (UFR) is also third with 53,392 votes. And, the SARP is fourth with 13,295 votes.

 

guineenews.org is featuring its estimate of the allocation of national assembly seats among the political parties.  You may wish to check out that website as well.

 

 

 

*Guinea Oye is unable to say that any of the numbers announced today are “results,” given the massive, audacious fraud the government committed.  Thus, we will refer to CENI “results” as numbers.

A Bit of Comic Relief – Sidya Toure: “We asked for a UN helicopter to transport the results from Kaloum to the CENI”

From guineenews.org

Article translated into English via Google with editing by Guinea Oye

Sidya Toure: “We asked for a UN helicopter to transport the results from Kaloum to the CENI”

Due to the slow release of some preliminary results of the vote, the leader of the Union of Republican Forces (UFR), Sidya Touré, joked with his peers in the opposition suggested that they ask for a United Nations to charter a helicopter to transport the results from Kaloum to the Electoral Commission.

Nine days after the vote, the results of Kaloum, Matoto and Ratoma three communes of Conakry are just a ten minute drive from the headquarters of the CENI but we are still waiting on them, while the returns from Lola and Yomou city which are more than 1000 km away, and they are distributed. 

“Kouyate has forgotten something, we have introduced a formal request to the United Nations to provide a helicopter that will transport results Kaloum and Matoto to the Ceni. Because it’s been nine days. I think the UN helicopter is needed, “insisted Mr. Touré.

And former Prime Minister Jean Marie Dore was invited to join in. “Our unit is unwavering. Be sure of this,” said he said.

To a colleague, who asked if the CENI has jurisdiction to annul an election, Mr. Dore replied bluntly. “That’s his business.” It was enough to make people laugh all together

GUINEA: How Did Conde Get to 2nd Round of 2010 Election to Oppose Diallo?

Below is part of an archive of Guinea Oye posts during June-July 2010 which focus on the first round of the presidential election. 

How did Conde Get to Second Round of 2010 Pres. Election to Oppose Diallo?

When Alpha Conde returned to Guinea to run for president, he was considered an outsider, having spent 59 years in France, and because of his long absence from the country, he was not considered a front runner.  Yet, the French government was very familiar with Conde and, if he became president, it could be very helpful.  It also didn’t hurt that former French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, was a longtime friend of Conde’s since they met in school forty years prior.

Cellou Diallo was well-known as a former Prime Minister and, rather than travelling abroad for his education, as many did, he went to school in Guinea.  Diallo was able to turn out huge crowds during his campaign for the first round of the 2010 presidential election which took place on June 27, 2010.  See video, #1, directly below of one of Diallo’s campaign rally in Conakry in late May. 

Gen. Sekouba Konate was appointed interim president of Guinea after a bullet to the head of junta leader, Dadis Camara, cleared the way.  Konate had three primary jobs:  produce a presidential election, turn the levers of the government to ensure an Alpha Conde victory, and command security services to repress the people before, during and after the election to prevent “messy” challenges.  Konate did a stellar job in all three areas for which he was well-compensated.

When Ben Sekou Sylla, president of the CENI, showed the initial first round results of the June 27 election to Sekouba Konate, it showed Diallo was first, Sidya Toure was second, Conde was third or fourth, and Kouyate was third or fourth.   Konate, partly because of a personal vendetta with Toure told Sylla to drop him from second place to third and put Conde in second place instead.  It is not clear whether Conde leap-frogged over both Toure and Kouyate, or just Toure.  As one might expect, Toure was livid as were his followers, most of whom were Soussou.   A large group of Soussou women appeared in front of Konate’s house to demonstrate against his interference in the election.  See post #8

After many filings with the CENI over election fraud, the Supreme Court announced the results of the final vote for the first round: Diallo received  44%, Alpha Conde received 18%, and Sidya Toure received 13%.  In reality, Diallo and Toure results were higher and Conde scored less than 18%.  See post #12

Louceny Camara, a CENI member and RPG loyalist “toured” voting stations in Conakry on election day and stole as many as 50,000 ballots from voting stations in strongholds of Diallo’s.  He was caught red-handed at home with most of the stolen ballots. If these ballots had been counted, Diallo would have won the presidency outright in the first round.  His percentage vote won was shrunk below 50% to prevent a first round win threw the election into a second round in which Alpha Conde was inserted as Diallo’s contender.

Further, in a way that only the international community can couch terrible things in a cheerful manner, the Carter Center noted that the number of ballots used in the Supreme Court tabulation of final results was 900,000 BALLOTS LESS than the number used for the preliminary ballot results directly after the election. Nearly 1 million ballots gone with just 5.6 million voters in the 2010 election.  See post #11

 

#1 VIDEO: May 16 – Presidential Candidate, Celou Dalein Diallo, Received by Massive Crowds in Conakry

http://wp.me/pFIZz-EL

May 24, 2010

#2 Doubts Emerge Over Guinean Poll Credibility

June 29, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Lh

#3 Vote Count Wraps Up Amid Fraud Accusations Including Ballot Boxes Disappearing Overnight

June 29, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Ln

4# Civil Society, Parties Claim Guinea Poll Irregularities

June 30, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Lu

#5 CENI Technical Head, Pathe Dieng: Voting Irregularity SMS Reports Cover 50% of Polling Stations “Which is Not Enough for Us to Make Any Valid Projections”

June 30, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Lz

#6 Electoral Code Requires CENI to Deliver Preliminary Results by 6PM Today as Charges of Fraud Grow

June 30, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-LD

#7 Reuters: Preliminary Results of June 27 Election

July 2, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Mr

#8 Guinea Election Goes to Second Round with Diallo and Conde

July 2, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Mv

#9 Guinea’s Electoral Commission Reports Vote Percentages for Top Candidates

July 2, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Mz

#10 Conde and Toure Appealing Election Results – Complaints Must be Filed with Guinea Supreme Court within 8 Days of Announcement of Vote Count

July 4, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-MS

 

#11 GUINEA: Carter Center Concerned that Supreme Court Tally of Votes is 900,000 Less than Provisional Results — “A De Facto Disenfranchisement” of Nearly One-Third of Electorate

July 26, 2010

 

July 20, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-PS

#12 Guinea Supreme Court Finds that Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde Will Proceed to the Run-Off Election

July 20, 2010

http://wp.me/pFIZz-Pt

GUINEA: Opposition Says “No” to Gov’t. Dialogue Meeting and “Yes” to March on Thursday, May 2

OPPOSITION PROTESTER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS DURING MARCH PROTEST OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION IN BRUSELS

Article from guineenews.org , translated via Google into English, editing by Guinea Oye

The Opposition is not joining the Prime Minister for the dialogue meeting: “We will send a letter,” says Lansana Kouyate

posted on April 28, 2013 at 6:22 p.m.

The standoff between the government and the opposition continues to harden. Mistrust and suspicion in the political pond in our country are exacerbated by the publication of a presidential decree, on Saturday, April 13, 2013, calling the electorate to the polls on June 30. Since then, in both statements and speeches, disagreements between the two movements are growing. The international facilitator [Said Djinnit] appointed by the Secretary General of the UN on the eve of the publication of this decree has, for the moment, got a non-violence agreement among parties that has “lived” since the time of his signature. The march of April 25 was more dramatic than the previous (April 18), leaving one dead and several wounded, some by live ammunition, observers reported.

Another initiative of the international facilitator, after his round of visits with stakeholders, is the revival of the political dialogue. The Prime Minister sent a letter to the opposition at the beginning of the weekend requesting a resumption of talks on Monday, April 29 with the Prime Minister. The opposition takes exception to the Government’s refusal to rescind the decree setting the date of elections for June 30 which obstructed dialogue and release of opposition marchers arrested who were exercising their right to protest. The main opposition leaders decided on Sunday to refuse to participate in a dialogue with the government until these preconditions are met. According to the procedure, opposition leaders will dispatch a letter to the Prime Minister. “We will send our spokesperson [Aboubacar Sylla] to respond to the letter from the Prime Minister,” said the president of the SARP, Elhadj Lansana Kouyate, who was reached by phone overnight on Sunday.
Concerning our question about the purpose of the spokesman of the opposition attending the meeting with the Prime Minister — will he represent the opposition or only to file the pposition’s reply letter, Lansana Kouyaté said: “We send our spokesperson to deliver to the Prime Minister our response letter notifying him that we will not participate in dialogue as the conditions obstructing our participation have not been removed. ”

These conditions, according to the opposition, are the decree calling the electorate to the polls on June 30 and the release of opposition activists. 

Furthermore, we learn that the opposition will not participate in current electoral actions and will not file any application for candidates in the June 30 election, being certain that it will succeed in preventing the holding of parliamentary elections under current conditions. Another week of uncertainty begins!

The opposition is involved in preparations for the net march which will be on Thursday, May 2, along the Fidel Castro Highway, we learn.

Nouhou Balde
Conakry, Guinea
224.669.13.13.13

Guinea Update 4-10: Guinea PM Fofana Invites Kouyate, Toure, Diallo and Dore for a Chat and the CENI Confirms the Commonly Held Belief That It Should Not Be Running Elections

OPPOSITION MARCH – SEPTEMBER 2012

PM Mohamed Said Fofana invited four of Guinea’s former prime ministers to meet with him at the Palace today: Cellou Dalein Diallo, Lansana Koyate, Sidya Toure, and Jean-Marie Dore. Opposition spokesperson, Aboubacar Sylla, participated as well. The meeting took less than an hour.

While participants have not commented publicly on the topic(s) discussed, guinee58.com speculates that PM Fofana brought the group together to share the name of the person chosen by the UN to serve as international facilitator for the Guinea dialogue.

Regarding the CENI, more trouble is brewing. By agreement between the government and the opposition, the CENI is supposed to put all its activities on hold until after the conclusion of dialogue talks. Word comes from several areas in the Forest region, that the CENI is busy working away.

Freezing the activities of the CENI is a long-standing condition of the opposition to enter into talks in the first place. This is not a frivolous request. The CENI has dealt consistently in bad fair with the opposition and, in particular, the opposition’s representatives on the CENI.

A particularly serious issue is that the CENI, under the guise of revision of the electoral rolls, is actually conducting a census which is not a function under the CENI’s mandate. A census conducted by an electoral body such as the CENI, which has a known political bias, can easily alter the ethnic and political landscape of Guinea — in a way that has little bearing in reality. Should the country decide to do a census in the future, participation would involve a wide spectrum of Guinean society.

Upon finding out that the CENI was conducting census work in N’Zerekore and other areas, the opposition sent a letter to prefectural officials on April 5, asking that the CENI stop immediately.

With a CENI like this and an election contractor like Waymark, no member of the international community would tolerate such illegal activities in their own elections — they should not be asking the people of Guinea to do so either.

Guinea Update 4-2: Sidya Toure Meets with Conde, CENI Plans to Announce New Date for Legislative Elections, and PM Said Fofana Asks for Meeting with Opposition to Revive Dialogue!

Conde Met with Sidya Toure Yesterday

As you know from previous reports, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Lansana Kouyate met separately with Alpha Conde late last week and over the weekend. Yesterday, it was Sidya Toure’s turn. Afterwards, Toure said discussion focused on holding elections and the revision of the electoral roll which is already underway. Actually, it is not a revision of the rolls, instead the CENI is conducting a census which carries far more significant political implications. As is customary with CENI’s stealth operations, the census idea has been a point of contention primarily because the opposition has never had a formal opportunity to weigh in on the concept.

CENI Plans to Announce New Date for Legislative Elections

Today or tomorrow, the CENI will announce that June 19 is the new date for the legislative elections. This is a mere six weeks later than the original date of May 12. May 12 was considered too early to hold elections given that the country is in political shambles and the government wanted to establish a dialogue with the opposition. That worked well, didn’t it?

Prime Minister Said Fofana Invites Opposition to Resume the Dialogue – Say What?

According to africaguinee.com Prime Minister Fofana asked the opposition to meet with him sometime today to discuss the possibility of resuming the dialogue talks. During the meeting, Fofana is expected to raise the issue of the planned opposition march for April 8 and make a move to prevent it.

STAY TUNED . . .

Guinea Update 3-31: UN Victim of Gov’t. “Bait and Switch” re: Facilitator, Diallo Meets with Conde, Rumored Kouyate Meeting with Conde, Opposition Will Accompany Telliano to Court, and March Date Changed to April 8

UN Endorses Govt.’s Pick for International Facilitator

If you want a good example of how treacherous Conde’s government can be, here is a classic case.

During the government-opposition talks about a framework for the political dialogue, the topic of facilitators was debated. In the end both groups agreed to the following: the government and the opposition would have one facilitator each and the government would ask the UN or ECOWAS to name an international facilitator. Since then, the opposition did as it was supposed to by naming a facilitator. The government named TWO facilitators, one primary facilitator and one co-facilitator. In addition, the government floated publicly the name of General Lamine Cisse, of Senegal, for international facilitator. Cisse is in Guinea under UN auspices working on reform of the Guinean army. The government never discussed with the opposition the merits of having Gen. Cisse serve as the international facilitator.`The opposition reminded the government that they had agreed that the choice of an individual to be the international facilitator was the UN’s decision to make.

Yesterday, a letter from Said Djinnit, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in West Africa, to Guinean PM Fofana arrived saying:

“I have taken note that all parties have agreed on the appointment of General Lamine Cissé as a member of the team facilitator as the international community. Given the agreement of all parties, I am pleased to inform you that the United Nations to accept Mr. Lamine Cissé, currently practicing as a consultant to the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), available to the dialogue process Guinean international facilitator. ”

“. . . all parties have agreed . . .” ?  Say what?  Fofana wrote the UN, as he was supposed t do,but rather than asking for the UN to make a selection, Fofana told Djinnit that all parties were on board concerning Cisse.  Of course, this is a bald-faced lie, but now that Djinnit has committed himself on paper, it’s a fait accompli. This is yet another reason to run as far as possible from the government dialogue and its swindlers.

The irony here is that Said Djinnit is a very sharp cookie, especially when it comes to Guinea. Throughout the 2010 presidential campaign and election, he had more insight into the election fraud as well as attacks on ethnic Peuls than any other diplomat. In fact, Said Djinnit would have been a very good international facilitator. Because of Djinnit’s savvy,I t is surprising he didn’t contact opposition leaders to confirm their agreement with the choice of Gen. Cisse.

Cellou Diallo – Alpha Conde Meeting

Guinean websites are reporting that there was a meeting last week between Cellou Diallo and Alpha Conde along the sidelines of a summit conference in Nouakchott, Mauritainia. It was Senegalese president, Macky Sall, who brought the two together. Diallo said he agreed to the meeting because, at that time, the opposition was still engaged in talks with the government regarding the dialogue. Diallo said he reiterated his primary demands that the Waymark contract be tossed out and replaced with one that can guarantee transparency and that Guineans abroad should be able to vote in legislative elections. Conde reaffirmed his disagreement with both of these. One can only assume this was a very short meeting (aminata.com).

Lansana Kouyate Meeting with Alpha Conde?

Reports are flying around Conakry that opposition leader, Lansana Kouyate, met with Alpha Conde earlier today. Kouyate and Conde have known each other for years. During the 2010 presidential election campaign, Kouyate broke ranks from Conde. Since then, they have been estranged. We will have to wait to see the true significance of the meeting.

Opposition to support Telliano at court appearance next week

At a press conference this past Friday, the opposition announced that opposition leaders and their supporters will accompany Jean Marc Telliano to a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday, April 2. If you recall, Telliano is charged with slander because of remarks he made about Alpha Conde at a rally during the February 27 march.

Many believe that the judges will postpone Telliano’s appearance on Tuesday in order to avoid a massive opposition presence outside the courthouse.

Opposition March Will Be Held on April 8

The march originally scheduled for April 4 has been changed to April 8. According to the opposition, this will be the first of a series of events it has planned over the coming weeks.

Feb. 27 Guinea Opposition March: The Video, Starring Conde’s Cops as They Throw Rocks at Cars and People

Power to the People!

NOTE:  Sorry, video placed in post last night was wrong one.  Now the full version is inserted below.

What a joyous treat it is to watch this video (further below). If anyone doubted that several hundred thousand opposition supporters participated in the march, this video confirms it as a virtual sea of people hit the streets in the struggle to liberate their country.

You will see that the march was interrupted several times by rock-throwing RPG supporters and police letting off tear gas. In some instances, the tear gas is massive and could easily have caused a stampede in the crowd.

There are great segments showing cheering people on either side of the highway as well as those in the caravan and march.  In the last few minutes you will see various opposition leaders making speeches.

But, the best five seconds of the video shows Conde’s not so finest cops, throwing rocks at the people in the caravan and at vehicles belonging to opposition leaders. The cop rock-throwing clip is repeated numerous times in the video so if you don’t catch right off, you will seeing it again soon.

Note that the video is a little grainy and throughout its 1 hour, 11 minutes length, it is punctuated several times with still pics and video and then returns to the chronological account of the march.

For those of you who do not have the time to view the whole video, here are a few highlights and the minute marks were you can see them:

-Rock throwing cops, 12 second mark (again, this clip is repeated throughout the video)

The crowd, I recommend you watch from the 5:24 mark through to the 15:00 mark

-Tear gas, 41:49 mark, 42:12, and 50:06

-Car damage, 48:09 mark

FLASH! All Guinean Opposition Leaders Summoned to Appear in Court March 14 on Charges of Civil Liability for Damages Caused During Feb. 27 March

All leaders of all three blocks of the opposition, the Collective, the ADP and the CDR, are summoned to appear next Thursday, March 14 in the court of first instance in Dixinn and are accused of being “civilly liable for damages caused during the February 27, 2013 march in the streets of Conakry as members of the organizing committee.”

Parties mentioned are, among others, the NGR of Abe Sylla, the GPT of Kassory Fofana, the RDIG of Jean Marc Telliano, the UFDG of Cellou Dalein Diallo, the UFR of Sidya Touré, the UFC Aboubacar Sylla, the SARP of Lansana Kouyaté, the PPG Dean Charles Pascal Tolno, the UNRof Boubacar Barry, the AFAG of Baidy Aribot , thee GECI of Fode Mohamed Soumah, the PS of Thierno Saidou Bayo, and the NFD of Mouctar Diallo.

While the overall charge is “civil liability for damages,” the specific charges are numerous: gatherings, parades and processions on public roads while armed, assault with bodily harm, contempt of the custodians of the public force, damage to private property, interference with the exercise of rights and freedom and duties of maintaining order, destruction and damage buildings or public facilities or private . . ., etc.

Africaguinee.com contacted Cellou Daein Dialo of the UFDG party for comment. He said he was not surprised by the summons to court since Conde had said he would do so in a speech earlier. He added that “we are innocent victims of violence” and that the court process is not likely to promote “healing.”

GUINEA Opposition March a Huge Success (Pics) Plus Conde Loyalists Burn Down Opposition Party Office in Kankan While Cops Watch

The placard says:  “Down with Waymark, long live dialogue and long live the vote of Guineans living abroad.”

More pictures further below.

MARCH AND RALLY

Thousands upon thousands of opposition activists marched today protesting the impunity of Alpha Conde. It appears security services kept themselves in check and there were only two incidents reported – rock throwing and a stabbing of an opposition supporter by one of Conde’s RPG activists.

The march was large and lively and filled both sides of the Fidel Castro as it snaked from Gbessia-Conakry airport to the esplanade at the People’s Palace.

In a Reuters article, opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo was quoted as saying at the rally that, “The opposition will not accept dictatorship, the violation of the constitution or laws of the Republic. If Mr Alpha Conde continues to violate these laws then we’ll ask him to leave.” Diallo also promised even larger, stronger protests next week.

BREAK-IN AND BURNING OF OPPOSITION PARTY OFFICES IN KANKAN

Today, in Kankan, located about 435 miles from Conakry, Conde loyalists looted and burned the primary headquarters of the party of Lansana Kouyate, former prime minister, former presidential candidate, and opposition leader.  Apparently, the offices were destroyed because Conde’s supporters think Kouyate has broken away from Conde politically. A resident of Kankan said that police stood by and watched as the ransacking and burning took place. Lansana Kouyate was not present at the march today — he is out of the country for an extended period of time.

The following pictures and those which appear at the beginning of this post are from the UFDG party website:

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