Guinea dissolves 40 opposition parties, becoming one-party state

The Guinea government has dissolved 40 political parties, including the country’s three main opposition parties, essentially turning the country into a one-party state.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, in a decree issued late last Friday, said the parties’ headquarters and local offices across the country will be closed.

It also prohibited the use of their logos and party acronyms, names, and emblems. It appointed a curator to oversee the transfer of the parties’ assets, according to Al Jazeera.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that this decree comes three months after Mamadi Doumbouya won the presidential election in December last year, securing himself a six-year term in office.

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The election is part of a transition process that began four years ago after Mr Doumbouya ousted President Alpha Condé in coup.

Mr Doumbouya’s junta had called itself the National Committee for Reconciliation and Development (CNRD).

After the coup, the junta leader began to clamp down on the main opposition and dissent; a move that left him with no major opposition among the eight other candidates who were part of the presidential race.

The three main opposition parties – Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR) – were suspended last August, ahead of the election, but have now been dissolved.

The RPG was the party of the ousted former President Alpha Condé.

The new decree is believed to be the latest of Mr Doumbouya’s efforts to clamp down on the opposition.

According to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the parties’ dissolution was due to their failure to meet their legal obligations.

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The decree also banned the parties from conducting political activity and stripped them of their legal status.

The UFDG party leader, Dalein Diallo, accused Mr Doumbouya of trying to build a one-party state.

In a video posted on Facebook on Sunday, he said, “I urge the leaders, activists and supporters of the UFDG, and all Guineans who cherish liberty and justice, to rise as one and use every means to bring an end to this exceptional regime that has lasted far too long.”

Similarly, Ibrahima Diallo, the leader of the pro-democracy National Front, one of the dissolved parties, also said the decree was issued to formalise a dictatorship.