Election campaign gets underway

Campaigning for December's presidential election has officially got underway following a presidential decree broadcast on state radio on Wednesday night. The campaign got off to a quiet start in the capital, Conakry, particularly within the camp of the ruling Party for Unity and Progress (PUP), the party of the incumbent head of state, General Lansana Conte. Conte is one of only two candidates authorised to stand by Guinea's supreme court. His one opponent is Ahmadou Bhoye Barry,of the Union for National Progress, a virtual unknown. Campaigning will continue until December 20, with elections scheduled for the following day. Given the one-sided nature of the election, observers anticipate a low-key campaign. Sources contacted by today showed their concerns lay elsewhere. A uiversity student criticised the lack of choice. "Why opposition parties were not approved for the election I cannot tell, but it smacks of a lack of democracy in this country", he said. Conte's supporters are expected to paint the country green and white (the PUP party colours), particularly given that the party has everything at its disposal including, its critics say, state-owned resources. Bhoye on the other hand has very little money of his own and is known by only a handful of his compatriots. Conte's critics suspect Bhoye's candidature is simply a stop-gap measure employed by Conte and his supporters, trying to lend legitimacy to the electoral process. For the moment, supporters of the President believe that it's only just a matter of winning on Decemnber 21st, and Conte will be back in the saddle for a new seven year term. If things happen that way, then the military officer who came to power through a military coup nineteen years ago will be well on his way to equalling the record of his predecessor,Ahmed Sekou Toure,who ruled this nation with an iron hand for twenty six years. In the build-up to the election, Conte made sure he excluded leaders of major opposition parties,who decided to boycott the poll, frustrated by what they described as the unsavoury political tactics of the president and his agents. The opposition Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD) warned on Wednesday that it was ready to disrupt the poll.