Guinea president on track for re-election
October 17, 2015
Initial results released by Guinea's electoral commission from about 75 percent of votes counted so far showed the incumbent president winning an outright majority.
Alpha Conde appeared to have won over 60 percent of the vote, while his main rival, Cellou Dalein Diallo, has garnered about 30 percent.
Final results are expected later Saturday, and will include the vote tally from an opposition stronghold.
The poll would go to a second round if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a step that was looking increasingly unlikely on Friday night.
Millions of Guineans voted in the October 11 elections - only the second democratic presidential polls since the West African country gained independence from France in 1958.
In Guinea's first presidential election in 2010, Conde and Diallo faced off in a second round of voting, which Conde won by a narrow margin.
Several people died in clashes leading up to the contested polls. Although peace prevailed on voting day, there were fears violence would erupt again once the final results are announced.
Opposition leaders have labeled the vote a farce, with Diallo and six other opposition candidates demanding a rerun. The government has denied allegations of vote-rigging and fraud.
nm/jm (AFP, AP)