Guinea’s referendum results have backed overwhelmingly a change to the country’s constitution to extend the term of the president.
Provisional results of the controversial referendum could now allow President Alpha Conde to govern for 12 more years.
The head of the electoral commission, Amadou Salifou Kebe, said on Friday that 92 percent of voters supported changing the constitution.
The referendum, which was postponed several times but finally held during the outbreak of the coronavirus was boycotted by the opposition.
Guinea’s opposition however claimed that at least 10 people were killed after clashing with security forces.
Alpha Conde is 82 years of age and is due to end his second and final five-year term next year.
He became Guinea’s first democratically-elected leader in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.
But he has not ruled out running again. Conde has however asked his government to look into drafting a new constitution.
He has said that there was the need to overhaul the constitution to take address pressing social issues, such as banning female genital mutilation.
Source: Africafeeds.com
