The main point of contention between Ecowas and the Malian authorities is the fact that – three months after the coup d’état that led to the fall of Alpha Condé – Guinean officials have still not established how long the transitional period will last. However, Ecowas has stated one of its demands for ending the sanctions against the junta is that the country’s electoral agenda must be clarified.
To reassure the West African organisation, which will debate the fate of the military again on 12 December, President Mamadi Doumbouya and his government hope that the Conseil National de Transition (CNT), the legislative body, will be created by then.
Arbitration
The CNT must participate in discussions on the timetable, since, according to Article 77 of the transitional charter signed on 27 September, the duration of the transition period must be fixed “by common agreement between the forces of the nation and the Comité National du Rassemblement pour le Développement (CNRD).” Above all, the CNT will have to draw up and submit a draft constitution for adoption by referendum.
The lists of 81 members or “advisors” were submitted to Mory Condé, minister of territorial administration, before the 25 November deadline. They represent different components of society, with a larger share reserved for political parties, which will have 15 advisers in the CNT. However, the country’s 181 official parties failed to reach a consensus on the selection criteria. They, therefore, submitted two separate lists, forcing the minister to arbitrate himself.
Parallel list
Guinea’s former finance minister Ousmane Doré managed part of the discussions. He proposed dividing all the members into seven coalitions according to their representativeness and electoral weight. The country’s two main political coalitions – the RPG Arc-en-Ciel, the former presidential coalition, and the Alliance Nationale pour l’Alternance Démocratique (ANAD), which comprises some 20 parties, including Cellou Dalein Diallo’s Union des Forces Démocratiques de Guinée (UFDG) – will each get four seats.
The remaining seven seats were divided among five other coalitions, including two for the Front National pour la Défense de la Constitution (FNDC) and its allies, including former prime ministers Sidya Touré and Lansana Kouyaté. Despite the allocation, some groups disagreed and decided to submit an alternative list with 15 new names.
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