Guinea legislative polls set for December: electoral panel

Guinean President Alpha Conde was sworn in on December 21. By Nicholas Kamm (AFP/File)

CONAKRY (AFP) - Guinea's electoral commission on Thursday announced that long-awaited legislative polls would take place on December 29, over a year after the country held its first ever democratic election.

"We have just announced nationally and internationally, to our partners, government and political actors, the holding of legislative elections on December 29," elections chief Louceny Camara told journalists.

The country last held legislative polls in 2002, under the authoritarian regime of President Lansana Conte, who died in 2008, leading to a coup and a political crisis which ended with democratic elections in 2010.

The National Transition Council, put in place in 2010 by the military junta and headed by General Sekouba Konate, has been acting as a parliament since President Alpha Conde was sworn in on December 21.

Theoretically the polls should have taken place six months after Conde's inauguration.

In June, Territorial Administration Minister Alhassane Conde said the poll would take place in the last quarter of 2011.

President Conde, however, wanted a new census to be carried out before the election to correct irregularities uncovered during the presidential poll.

This suggestion was rejected by opposition parties which say it could further delay the legislative vote and noted that the estimated cost of 80 million euros ($110 million) would be better spent on the country's development.

A source from the interior ministry told AFP on Thursday that Conde had abandoned his census plans.

The electoral commission would now embark on a revision of electoral lists, which will take place between October 3 and November 15, at a cost of 20 million euro ($27 million dollars), said commission head Camara.

He urged authorities and political parties to hold a peaceful election and "fully entrench Guinea's democracy."

© 2011 AFP