Guinea’s ruling junta has suspended three major opposition parties, including that of former president Alpha Condé, just weeks before a referendum on a new constitution.
According to an order seen by AFP on Saturday, the suspensions — set to last three months — affect Condé’s Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) led by ex-prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, and the Party of Renewal and Progress (PRP).
The junta accused the parties of failing to meet unspecified legal obligations.
The decision comes as opposition groups and civil society coalitions prepare for nationwide demonstrations beginning September 5, aimed at denouncing what they call a power grab by junta leader General Mamadi Doumbouya.
A referendum on revising the constitution is scheduled for September 21, though the start of the campaign has been pushed back by one week to August 31, according to a separate decree read on state television late Friday.
The opposition has strongly rejected the proposed constitution, arguing that it could entrench the junta in power. Doumbouya, who seized power in a September 2021 coup that toppled Condé after a decade in office, has banned protests since 2022, while several opposition leaders have been arrested, prosecuted, or forced into exile.
A draft of the new constitution was submitted to Doumbouya in June. It outlines a return to civilian rule but does not clarify whether the junta leader himself would be eligible to contest the presidency.
Under the current transition charter adopted after the coup, members of the junta and transitional government are barred from running in elections. The adoption of a new constitution could potentially lift that restriction in a country long dominated by authoritarian rule.
