GUINEA       Institutional Situation

  This section has been updated by Mr Boubacar Issa Abdourhamane,
a doctorate student at the CEAN, IEP – Montesquieu University of Bordeaux

Democratic Process

Guinea was led from 1958 to 1984 by Ahmed Sékou Touré, whose regime was considered one of the most authoritarian there was. On his death in 1984, Colonel Lansana Conté seized power at the head of a military council that established an exceptional regime while allowing a rapid return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to the country. The authorities did not, however, mention a fully competitive system, despite the adoption on 23 December 1990 of a new Constitution by referendum. This in fact limited the number of parties to two and stipulated an interim period of five years that was supposed to lead to the re-establishment of the rule of law.
However, movements demanding democracy began to develop in the course of 1991 with the mobilisation of school pupils, unions and various political leanings. In October, President Conté was obliged to announce the legalisation of all political parties to take effect on 3 April 1992. In December, the Constitution that had been adopted one year before was finally promulgated. The protests did not die down, however, and demands now included the holding of a National Conference. The authorities promulgated the law on the press on 3 April and reshuffled the government to reduce tension. The opposition failed to win the holding of a National Conference because of internal divisions.
Because of this, the democratic process in Guinea has been largely organised and controlled by the government. The first competitive presidential elections were finally held on 19 December 1993 without a National Conference having been organised. President Lansana Conté faced seven challengers but won in the first round with 50.93% of the votes cast. His main adversaries were credited respectively with 20.85% for Alpha Condé, 13.11% for Mamadou Bâ and 11.64% for Siradiou Diallo. The opposition parties accused the government of irregularities and fraud and, in particular, of cancelling the votes from two constituencies that were opposition strongholds.
In June 1995, the general elections initially scheduled for December 1992 finally took place. They were won by President Conté’s Party of Unity and Progress (Parti de l’unité et du progrès – PUP). The opposition declared the results of these elections of 11 June 1995 invalid and, as on the occasion of the presidential elections, accused the authorities of fraud and of manipulating the figures. It should be noted that a National Electoral Commission defined as being independent had been created by the government to supervise the elections but this Commission was in fact under the influence of the government.
In February 1996, the regime of President Conté narrowly escaped a bloody military rebellion in the capital Conakry, lasting several days. The authorities finally came to an agreement with the rebels. The appointment of Sidya Touré to the post of Prime Minister in July 1996 was followed by relative calm on the political front that was soon to be broken by the presidential election in December 1998. This election was marked by violence, costing the lives of many. As in 1993, the election of 14 December 1998 was won in the first round by President Conté, who was credited with 56.12% of the votes. As in 1993, the opposition refused to recognise the legitimacy of the election, which it considered as being the result of fraud. Alpha Condé, the leader of the Rassemblement du peuple guinéen (RPG) was arrested and imprisoned the day after the election. This arrest of the most serious civilian opposition figure was denounced by several Guinean and foreign personalities. It should be noted that even the President of the Guinean National Assembly protested against this arrest of a person he considered as being a member of the Assembly and thus as benefiting from parliamentary immunity that had at no point been lifted by the National Assembly itself, as should have been the case. Judged from 12 April by the State Security Court, an exceptional jurisdiction, for “high treason”, Alpha Condé was sentenced to five years in prison on 11 September 2000.
The general elections scheduled for 26 November 2000 were postponed by presidential decree for reasons of tension in the regions along the borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia, countries which had been subject to rebel attacks killing several hundred civilians and causing major movements of population. To avoid a general explosion in Guinea, the member countries of the West African Economic Community decided to deploy an armed contingent on the borders of Guinea to prevent rebels attacking from neighbouring countries. Not only has the democratic process in Guinea broken down in recent years, but insecurity in part of the country’s territory can only complicate the situation.

Political Institutions

The Fundamental Law of 1990 established a presidential regime. At the head of the State, the President of the Republic is elected by direct universal suffrage for five years. His term of office may be renewed once. He is responsible for forming a government of which he is the chief, and the Ministers are answerable to him.
It is in fact a very presidential system: the Chief of State appoints everybody and former Presidents have a position in the protocol that comes just after that of the President in office. The Constitution stipulates that he may, after consultation with the President of the Assembly, submit any law relating to the organisation of the authorities, freedom and fundamental rights to a referendum (Art. 45-1). In contrast with what is usually done in a presidential system, the President of the Republic may dissolve the National Assembly in Guinea. However, he must resign if the people return the same majority to Parliament.
The Parliament is composed of a single chamber, the National Assembly. Its 120 members are elected for five years by direct universal suffrage. The Assembly produced by the 1995 general elections is dominated by the Parti de l’unité et du peuple (PUP), the party of President Conté, which has an absolute majority. There are no more than about forty members of the opposition. The serving President of the National Assembly is Boubacar Biro Diallo. The general elections scheduled for June 2000 and then for November of the same year have still not been organised.
In constitutional matters, Guinean law has not created a specific body. It is the Supreme Court that has authority when it comes to checking the constitutional validity of laws, to deciding in conflicts of authority between the President and the National assembly or to settling electoral disputes. Its decisions are not subject to appeal.
The Guinean Constitution also includes a High Court of Justice to judge high-ranking figures of the State and an Economic and Social Council with advisory powers.

Judicial System

Judicial power in Guinea is exercised by the courts and tribunals, with the Supreme Court as the highest authority in such matters. It is this court that deals with the highest level of appeals. By the terms of the law, the judges cannot be removed from office and the independence of the legal system is guaranteed, but it is in fact difficult for magistrates to avoid the influence of the authorities. The authorities do not hesitate to use exceptional jurisdictions when it comes to trying opponents of the system.

Decentralisation and Devolution

The Constitution stipulates that the local authorities are the prefectures, urban communities and rural development communities. They are supposedly free to run their affairs, under the supervision of a State representative. However, the law governing the transfer of authority and the organisation of local elections has yet to be passed. For the moment, the different authorities are run by bodies of members who were appointed to their position.

Political Parties

Since the introduction of the multiparty system, about forty political parties have come into being alongside the ruling Parti de l’unité et du progrès (PUP) with its much contested parliamentary majority. The four most important opposition parties are: Alpha Condé’s Rassemblement du people de Guinée (RPG), Mamadou Bâ’s Union pour la nouvelle république (UNR), Siradiou Diallo’s Parti du renouveau et du progrès (PRP) and Marcel Coste’s Parti démocratique de Guinée-RDA (PRG-RDA).
On 6 June 1995, these four parties and eight other formations formed a coalition against the PUP under the name Coordination de l’opposition démocratique (COD). The Coordinator was Mamadou Bâ and the Secretary General Alpha Condé. However, they did not manage to unite against President Conté in the 1998 presidential election. In May 2000, the former Prime Minister was invested as President of the Union des forces républicaines founded in 1992.

Trades Unions

Union freedom and the right of association are established in the Constitution of Guinea, but the possibilities for union action are most limited and their ability to mobilise is very poor. The main union organisation in the country is the national Confederation of Guinean Workers (Confédération nationale des travailleurs Guinéens - CNTG). The Association of Journalists of Guinea (Association des journalistes de Guinée – AJG) and the Union des journalistes de presse de langue française (UJPLF) are sector-based unions. The former is one of the most influential unions in Guinea.

Human Rights

The prisons of Guinea had one of the worst reputations in the West Africa under Sékou Touré. Today the human rights situation has certainly improved, although there is still a lot of progress to be made. Intimidation, sometimes violent, is still widely practised against all opposition figures or potential troublemakers. The security forces still have great difficulty getting out of the habits they acquired under the former dictatorship and the authoritarian nature of the current regime does not exactly work in favour of rapid improvement on their part. There is a Guinean Human Rights League, but Amnesty International reports human rights violations in its annual reports, especially against active members of the opposition. Such was the case with Alpha Condé, the leader of the RPG, arrested in December 1998 and condemned to five years in prison in September 2000.

Media

As is the case in human rights matters, press freedom has made real progress in recent years. There are few publications, they have limited means and they cannot yet publish what they want without getting into trouble (possibility of being condemned in court). Several papers have been seized and journalists stopped by security forces. Despite all this, there is today the possibility in Guinea of expressing the most varied opinions on a wide range of subjects. Alongside the official voice of the authorities, Horoya, there is a press that is close to the opposition, the main publication of which is L’Indépendant. There is even a satirical paper, Le Lynx. Radio and television are more or less a State monopoly. The biggest problems for the press tend to be the lack of means and the small number of publications.