The President of Guinea’s ruling junta has announced that a constitutional referendum will be held in 2024.
This is a critical step towards the restoration of civilian governance following a coup.
Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who has ruled since deposing the country’s first democratically elected president in 2021, announced the vote during a year-end speech late Sunday.
He however did not specify a date for the referendum.
“In the new year, a new constitution which resembles us and brings us together will be submitted to a referendum,” Doumbouya said in a statement.
He also promised a constitution “approved by the people and which is not a copy and paste but a constitution, which draws inspiration from the past to together build our future”.
Doumbouya also stated that state-appointed leaders would be nominated soon to lead local councils, which were elected in 2018 and whose terms expire in the first few months of the year.
Almost all of the councils are currently led by individuals from anti-military parties affiliated with ousted civilian ex-president Alpha Conde or former Prime Minister, Cellou Dalein Diallo.
Doumbouya stated that the announcements were made in order to “continue the significant efforts to return to constitutional order through the organization of free, democratic, and transparent elections, while adhering to the timeframe for a restoration to civilian government.
Conde was elected president in 2010 following decades of autocratic rule.
However, he came under growing scrutiny after enacting a constitutional amendment that some claimed was designed to allow him to seek for a third term.
Under international pressure, Doumbouya committed to transfer over authority to elected citizens by January 2026 after taking power.
The September 2021 coup is the latest in a series of coups and attempted coups in West Africa since 2020.
