Political situation in Guinea

Opposition given up: “Dictatorship is being formalized”

The decision to ban all major opposition parties and a number of other parties in Guinea means that the dictatorship in the country is now being formalized. This is what Ibrahima Diallo, leader of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), says, reports AFP.

“The country is sinking into deep uncertainty,” he says.

After a military coup in 2021 that overthrew democratically elected President Alpha Conde, the country has been ruled by a military junta led by General Mamadi Doumbouya. He was recently sworn in as president after a sham election in which the opposition was not allowed to stand.

The junta has not only cracked down hard on opposition figures but also their families, writes AFP. Most recently this week, the family of a former minister was kidnapped.

Guinea bans all opposition parties

Guinea is banning 40 political parties, including all three major opposition parties, AFP reports. The announcement comes two months after the former leader of the military junta, Mamady Doumbouya, was sworn in as president. Before that, he had ruled the country with an iron fist through the junta after a military coup in 2021 when the country's first democratically elected president was overthrown.

Doumbouya took office after winning an election in December in which all opposition leaders were barred from participating.

The parties now banned will also have their assets confiscated.

Civil rights groups have condemned the decision.