Guinea's elections turn page on years of 'chaos'

Guineans voted Saturday in the first parliamentary elections for more than a decade in the troubled west African nation, after numerous delays and a campaign marred by deadly unrest. Voters chose among more than 1,700 candidates vying for 114 seats in a national assembly, which will replace the transitional body that has been running the country since military rule came to an end in 2010. The vote, originally due within six months of the swearing-in of President Alpha Conde in 2010, had been delayed amid disputes over its organisation, stoking deadly ethnic tensions that have dogged Guinean politics since the country's independence from France in 1958. The campaign had been marred by days of violence between government and opposition activists which saw more than 70 people wounded and a trainee policeman killed but no major incident was reported Saturday. "We faced the challenge of a huge turnout. We are moving towards a participation rate of over 80 percent. We had a calm day of voting and there was no violence -- Guineans behaved well," election commission chief Alpha Yero Conde told reporters. Large crowds gathered in the capital Conakry for what was regarded as Guinea's first genuinely democratic parliamentary election. Polls held during the military dictatorship in 2002 and faced with opposition boycotts were widely dismissed as a sham. "These elections will allow us to emerge from a chaotic five-year transition," the president told reporters on the eve of the vote, expressing the hope that Guinea was about to enter a new era of prosperity. The opposition had accused the president's camp and the electoral commission of conniving to rig the vote, and protests in Conakry over recent years have often descended into violence. Sidya Toure, a former prime minister and a prominent opposition leader, vowed early Saturday that "all of Guinea would be on the streets" if his supporters believed the results did not square with what they were seeing at the polling stations.   Conde's main rival Cellou Dalein Diallo said many "anomalies" about which his party had complained had not been corrected -- without elaborating -- and accused the president's party of trying to "cheat". "This is a conspiracy that aims to reduce the chances of my party to get a majority in the national assembly," he said. Guinea's Muslim and Christian leaders had called for a peaceful election day, urging all parties to put their country before their own interests. "Any political struggle must be made for Guinea and not against it. Muslims and Christians, all religious leaders, call on people to do their patriotic duty without violence," said Mamadou Saliou Camara, the grand imam of Conakry. Problems were reported in several polling stations in Conakry and in the regions, including heavy storms keeping voters away, and some centres stayed open beyond the official cut-off time to complete 10 hours of voting. But many stations in the capital reported healthy crowds as the polls opened amid tight security. 'I tell them to fear nothing' A long line of soldiers queuing to vote applauded Conde as he left a polling station near his residence in the city centre wearing a blue traditional robe and sunglasses. "I hope that the people of Guinea vote overwhelmingly and in peace, and I tell them to fear nothing," he said. "From now on the state will discharge its responsibilities and the country will be calm. And I hope everything goes well and that the expression of the Guinean people is respected." One of the poorest countries in the region despite vast potential for mineral exploitation, Guinea was run by a succession of autocratic rulers after gaining independence from France. A military junta took control in December 2008 at the death of president Lansana Conte, who had seized power in a coup 24 years earlier. In 2010, civilian rule was ushered in after a transition period and an election also marred by delays and violent ethnic clashes. Politics in Guinea typically polarises some two dozen ethnic groups who otherwise live in harmony alongside each other -- with the Fulani the largest at around 40 percent of the population followed by the Malinke and Soussou. Conde, a Malinke, leads the Rally of the Guinean People and claims to espouse socialism while his main rival, Diallo, is a Fulani and heads the centrist liberal Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UDFG).