“President Alpha Condé will indeed be our candidate in the presidential election,” said the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG-Arc-En-Ciel) in a statement read on national television RTG Monday night. The presidential party had “solicited” in early August the candidacy of the 82 year-old Guinean head of state, for a third term at the head of the country.
Pact
Elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2015, Condé said he had “taken note” of the proposition to run as a candidate for the RPG, but preferred to reserve his answer, to which he attached a series of conditions. “If you want me to accept your proposal, you have to commit yourself to making the RPG what it used to be; a party that forgets no one,” he told the delegates of his party.
READ MORE Alpha Condé wants a third term in Guinea. The AU must stop him
The main parties put forward to the president a “proposal pact” for the application of a programme to revitalise the RPG. We “had invited the head of state to seek a new mandate as authorized by the new Constitution,” the RPG said in its statement on Monday.
It continued: “We have the immense privilege and joy to inform the Guinean people that he has acceded to our request.”
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The party was congratulated in the press release read by the Director General of the national television RTG.
Third term
For several months, the possible candidacy of Alpha Condé for a third term has crystallized tensions in the country.
READ MORE Alpha Condé vs. the opposition: Unmasking the power struggle
The main opposition parties allied with civil society organisations within the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) have held multiple demonstrations to oppose any constitutional reform that would pave the way for the Guinean head of state’s candidacy for a third term.
Third-termism disease in Africa:
Guinea's 82-year-old President Alpha Conde will seek a third term in office after the constitution change in March 2020. He was elected president in 2010 and again in 2015.
Under Guinea's constitution, presidents may only serve two terms. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/f7cda8lgGP— Fred Muvunyi (@MuvunyiF) September 1, 2020
However, the opposition’s call for a boycott of the double-poll – the legislative and constitutional referendum on 22 March – did not prevent the promulgation of this new law.
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