BY MOHAMED SYLLA

(Editing by Jibril Ture)

Guinean voters will go to the polls tomorrow to cast their ballots about a new constitution, and at the same time choose their legislators.

These elections will finally take place after four postponements due, among other things, to recurring protests that have claimed dozens of lives among the civilian population and the security forces. Repeated attacks on polling stations and voting materials, and the resulting brutal repression by security forces, re-ignited the fear of violence and loss of human lives that are nothing new here.

These controversial elections will finally allow Guinean voters to have their say about a draft constitution which, if approved, will constitute a milestone in the political history of this West African nation.

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Billed ‘modern’ by Guinea’s president Alpha Condé, the new constitution aims to prop up gender equality, prohibit female circumcision and the marriage of minors. The head of state emphasizes that the new constitution would spur a better distribution of wealth, thereby favoring of the young population and disadvantaged segments of the Guinean population.

But the opposition leaders and a segment of the country’s civil society see this as nothing more than a clever move on the part of the president to extend his grip on power. The draft constitution does limit the number of presidential terms in office to two. While President Condé, nearly 82, whose second term ends this year, is yet to state whether he would seek a new term, the opposition fears he would say the new constitution resets the clock, thereby allowing him to seek two additional terms if he so chooses.

Government’s banners of ‘Yes to equality,’ ‘Yes to investing in the youth’ were met with a vigorous calls for boycott by the opposition, leading to violent confrontations.

The African will bring you updates to this important developing story as they happen.