Low turnout in local elections

A low turnout and isolated incidents of violence marked municipal elections in Guinea on Sunday, a media source in Conakry told IRIN on Monday. The country was mostly calm. However in Boke, some 165 km north of Conakry, the capital, six members of former prime minister Sidya Toure’ opposition Union des forces republicaines (UFR) party, were injured by soldiers and one later died, the source said. At least 10 members of the Rassemblement du peuple de guinee, headed by detained presidential hopeful Alpha Conde, were arrested in Zerekore, some 900 km southeast of the capital. Minor incidents of violence were also reported in the centre of Conakry, news organisations reported. AFP reported that supporters of the ruling Parti de l’unite et du progres harassed opposition candidates and, prior to police intervention, tried to stop them from entering five voting stations in Conakry. Eight of the 46 approved political parties presented candidates in the election, the third such multiparty poll in the country since independence in 1958, AFP reported.