Incumbent Conte ahead in poll

Guinean President Lansana Conte took a huge lead over his three main challengers in partial official results reported today, news agencies said. Interior Minister Zainoul Abidine Sanoussi announced on state television and radio that according to partial results Conte was leading in the poll in all but three of 18 constituencies. AFP said Conte had won 64 percent of the vote. A media source in Conakry told IRIN today it was “too early to comment on partial results” but said if there was no second round it could spell trouble. The opposition has accused the government of massive electoral rigging. International observers who monitored the ballot endorsed the conduct of the poll in a statement released before the partial results were announced, adding that shortcomings had been noted but were not widespread enough to affect the outcome of the vote, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Barry Ibrahima Sory, a journalist working with the weekly ‘Le Lynx’ in Conakry, told IRIN today the detention of chief opposition leader Alpha Conde on Tuesday could escalate tension in the country. He said yesterday he had attended a press conference organised by Conde’s party, the Rassemblement du Peuple de Guinee (RPG), during which speakers said Conde had been under threat of detention since he returned to Guinea earlier in the month from self-imposed exile. This situation prompted his trip to a remote part of Guinea. The RPG campaign director rejected charges that Conde was trying to cross the border when he was arrested, Sory added. He said the government accused Conde of hoarding arms and recruiting mercenaries.