Ruling party scorns opposition boycott

Guinea’s ruling Party for Unity and Progress (PUP) has said the decision by opposition parties to boycott December’s elections "is at their own peril" and dismissed an announcement by the European Union that it would neither finance the election nor send observers to witness it. Guinea's eight-party opposition coalition, the Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD), announced the boycott on Monday, saying the 21 December elections were illegal. But speaking to IRIN on Tuesday, the PUP Secretary-General, Sékou Konaté, said: "All we have done towards the conduct of this election is within the country’s constitution and is therefore legal." "The boycott by the opposition will have no effect on the election, as our own party and our supporters are poised to exercise our civic rights come election day," Konate told IRIN in the capital, Conakry. The boycott leaves incumbent President Lansana Conte, who is seeking another seven-year term after 19 years in office, in the contest without FRAD. He was designated the PUP candidate, despite his failing health. On Monday the EU Special Representative to the Mano River states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Hans Dhalgren, told IRIN that the EU had been left with "many question marks as to the method of preparing for these elections." "We want to sort out these question marks before we continue this partnership," he said. Dhalgren said the EU would not finance the presidential election or send election observers to Guinea. He said the lack of an independent electoral commission, the opposition’s lack of access to state media and the limits placed on opposition parties had left the EU with little alternative. Konate however said: "We are a sovereign state. Everything is well-budgeted for by the government, including the holding of elections. We wanted assistance but if one group or country says it cannot give assistance, fine. That does not mean we cannot go ahead with our election." A FRAD spokesman had told reporters on Monday that: "Even the candidature of incumbent president Lansana Conté is not in conformity with the laws of the land because the president is sick." The president, he added, erred by announcing the election date. FRAD accused Conté of contradicting the 1992 Guinean constitution, under which he should be completing his second five-year term this year without extension. A controversial referendum in 2001 awarded Conté the right to stand again and extended the presidential term to seven years. The opposition never accepted that referendum. Konaté rejected FRAD's argument, arguing that the setting of an election date was legal because it came against the mandatory forty days before the poll. The 2001 referendum, he added, was a constitutional act that enjoyed the participation of the people and was therefore legal. There was little public reaction to these developments, with ordinary Guineans apparently more concerned about where the next meal will come from. One man told IRIN: "Both the government and the opposition should ensure that the polls are free and fair. They should not bring trouble for us here, like we have seen with our neighbours." Over the weekend, Conté warned would-be coup-makers in the Guinean army to give up any ambitions they might have to take power, saying 'small noises of a soldier president' had begun making the rounds at Camp Alimamay Samoury, the military headquarters, where he has his offices. The head of state said leaflets were already being circulated in support of 'a soldier president'. He asked his countrymen not to "plunge this country into another Liberia, Sierra Leone or Ivory Coast". He however acknowledged that he too came to power through a coup d'état in 1984. The president is known to suffer from diabetes and also has heart problems. Both have taken their toll in the past year, leaving the president an ailing man.