Guinea’s Legislative Elections: Hold them before the end of 2011, keep the playing field equal, and complete Guinea’s transition to democracy

We call on President Alpha Condé and his government to become true champions of democracy by respecting and enabling the current timetable and ensuring that the elections are free and fair in order for the country to move forward.

We the undersigned – citizens and friends of Guinea, supporters of democracy from across the country and around the world – urge President Alpha Condé and his administration to respect the National Independent Electoral Commission’s (CENI) timetable and to ensure that it remains independent in order to hold critical legislative elections by the end of 2011. Organizing these elections and ensuring that the country once again has a National Assembly of freely and fairly elected women and men is of paramount importance to establishing true democracy in Guinea. Indeed, no modern nation can consider itself governed by and for the people without such a representative body to determine the laws of the land and the means and methods of self-development.

Engagements made during the several rounds of consultative workshops held between the CENI, the administration of President Alpha Condé, opposition party members, civil society leaders and international partners must be respected.  The time has come for President Condé, long the standard bearer of multiparty democracy in Guinea, to be true to his deepest avowed values and act immediately on his rhetoric by financing and facilitating free and fair legislative elections as soon as possible.

Guinea’s last National Assembly elections were held in 2002 – nearly a decade ago.  Furthermore, six months have passed since the president was inaugurated as the very first democratically elected president in Guinea. According to the 2010 Ouagadougou Agreement and basic democratic standards, the legislative elections should have been held within this period in order to reestablish the representative governmental institutions the people needs.

So as not to waste any more time, we the undersigned urge President Condé and his government to:

1. Immediately authorize the allocation of the Guinean government’s fair share of the estimated $30 million (200 billion Guinean Francs) required to organize the vote;
2. Abandon the idea of conducting a national census before organizing the elections – a contentious subject that may provoke a crisis by increasing social tensions and plunging Guinea into chaos – and accept that the electoral register be revised in conformity with electoral law;
3. Encourage an open dialogue on the electoral process with all involved parties in order to reorganize the CENI on a consensual basis and ensure that all of its responsibilities and authorities are respected to maintain neutrality in the organization of the elections;
4. Ensure the neutrality of government officials participating in the organization of the elections, and in particular of the Guinean military and specialized election security forces (FOSSEPEL),  in protecting every party’s and every candidate’s right to run for office and every registered voter’s right to chose their representatives in peace – and to have that vote count;
5. Through concrete actions, instill a safe and open atmosphere to facilitate campaigning across the country by all eligible parties and candidates regardless of their ethnic or regional orgin, gender, or age;
6. Support public outreach campaigns actively encouraging registered candidates and voters from all regions and of all parties to participate in the continuation of Guinea’s transition to democracy through these legislative elections.

Several international aid agencies have conditioned future development assistance and debt relief to Guinea on the holding of free and fair legislative elections – assistance that the people of Guinea desperately need.  This in itself is a good reason for the National Assembly to be elected as soon as possible. But the real legacy of these elections will be the long-term ability of Guinean citizens to realize the country’s immense potential and determine their own path forward.

The true test of President Condé’s historic presidency will be in his ability and willingness to champion the diverse representativity in government to which he dedicated so many hard-fought decades as an opposition leader himself.  Only in the holding of these legislative elections will this phase of democratic transition in Guinea be complete.

To add your voice to this statement, sign the petition here.

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