Opposition Protesters Barricade Streets in Guinea
Anti-government demonstrators barricaded roads and threw stones in Guinea's capital on Saturday in protest at a Supreme Court ruling handing September's controversial elections to the president's governing party.
Groups of protesters chanting "No to the electoral stitch-up" and "Death to the Supreme Court" burned tyres, overturned bins and stopped traffic on the main road into central Conakry, forcing traders to close their shops, an Agence France Presse reporter saw.
Riot police were deployed in large numbers to trouble spots across the city but there had been no major clashes with protesters and no reports of serious injuries by midday.
The court confirmed the results late on Friday of parliamentary elections that handed power to President Alpha Conde's party, rejecting a challenge by his rivals.
Provisional results published on October 18 had given Conde's Rally of the Guinean People (RPG) party 53 seats in the national assembly.
The outcome gave the RPG together with its allies an absolute majority in the 114-member parliament. But the September 28 polls have come under heavy criticism from opposition parties, which won a total of 53 seats.
The opposition coalition alleged "massive fraud", claiming the polls were marred by irregularities including ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and minors casting votes.
International observers also said serious flaws had affected the credibility of the vote.
Opposition leaders were due to meet Saturday to decide how to proceed after the Supreme Court's ruling.
In 2010 Conde became the first democratically elected president of the west African country, which has a long history of political and military turmoil and bloody crackdowns on protesters.
Legislative elections should have taken place within six months of his inauguration in December 2010.
But they were pushed back, with opposing factions unable to agree on conditions for the elections, leaving the role of parliament to be played by an unelected National Transitional Council.
The last parliamentary elections in Guinea took place in June 2002 during the dictatorship of General Lansana Conte, who died in December 2008 after 24 years in power.
Source: Agence France Presse
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