By Saliou Samb
CONAKRY, May 10 2002 (IPS)

Guinea’s main opposition parties have ruled out taking part in the country’s legislative elections scheduled for Jun 30.

“Without a real structure to guarantee the administration’s neutrality in the elections, it’s useless to participate when the results are already known,” says former Prime Minister, Sidya Toure, who is the leader of the opposition Union of Republican Forces (URF).

“We’re not prepared to send our supporters out there to die for nothing,” says Mohamed Diane, secretary general of the Guinea People’s Union (GPU).

But the Union for Progress and Renewal (UPR), which is a small opposition party, says it will participate in the polls. Its candidate Ba Mamdou came in second after Lansana Conte in the 1998 presidential election.

“We’ve decided to negotiate with the government and reach a compromise. Since certain concessions were made in the opposition’s favour, the UPR has chosen to participate in the elections,” says the party’s leader, Siradiou Diallo.

“Our concern now is that the National Electoral Commission appears not to be prepared for the June 30 elections. That’s why we’ve suggested that the election be postponed until the end of the year,” he adds.

Jean-Marie Dore, of the Union for the Progress of Guinea (UPG), a small opposition party, also weighed in on the question of participation. “No-show politics serves any purpose. Participation in the legislative election is vital,” he says.

The government is celebrating the split in the opposition’s ranks, which grouped under a loose alliance known as the Movement for Democratic Alternative. Following the split, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralisation, and Security, Moussa Solano, says, “there’s no longer such a thing as a small party in Guinea any more”.

Last November, the alliance agreed to boycott the June elections. That time, they had united to stop a referendum to amend the constitution so that Conte could run for a third term in 2003.

Abdoulaye Kandet Ba, an economist, says “the opposition’s decision not to participate in the elections is a bad thing for the country”.

Concurring, Bintou Camara, a law student, says “the opposition should think carefully before deciding to boycott the elections.”

For the Guinean League for Human Rights, however, “transparency in the June elections is the benchmark of stability”.

Taking oath of office on Monday, Rachid Toure, chairperson of Electoral Commission, said he would “carry out his duties in the best interests of the people, and prove his impartiality”. All 52 members of the Commission also took oath of the office.

“For the moment, only Japan has offered a cheque for 500,000 U.S. dollars (around 500 million Guinean francs) for the elections. Other partners, such as the European Union, the United States have yet to write their cheques,” says a government official.

Twenty-one political parties competed in the 1995 multiparty elections, which gave birth to the outgoing 101-member Parliament.

Excerpt: