Opposition to boycott next month's referendum

Guinea's opposition parties have announced that they will boycott next month's proposed referendum on the constitution, a Guinean source told IRIN on Friday. The referendum would change some key provisions of Guinea's constitution, including changing the presidential term from five to seven years and allowing current president Lansana Conte to run for a third term. Opposition leaders plan to stage, from Saturday to 10 November, a series of protests, meetings, sitings in order to have "a total boycott" of the proposed referendum, Couloumbaly Camara, a member of Guinea's coalition opposition group, told IRIN on Friday. The referendum is slated for 11 November. The parties preferred to call for a boycott than to ask supporters to 'vote no' to avoid the possibility of fraud and rigging. However, Camara said Conte's party, le Parti pour l'unite progres, would do everything to make sure that it wins. Relations between the opposition and the government have worsened since Conte's party started, some four months ago, contemplating moves to change the constitution. The government has been appealing for funds to finance the campaign, while the opposition has been touring the country to boycott the operation. Guinea's national assembly speaker has also said that he is against the proposed revision. Conte, an army General, took power in 1983 after the death of Guinea's first president Ahmed Sekou Toure. He won presidential elections in 1993 and 1998. The current constitution, adopted in 1993, stipulates that the president can serve a maximum of two five-year terms. Conte's current term is slated to end in 2003.