Guinea holds Referendum Despite Covid -19 Scares
At least two people have been killed following Sunday’s clashes erupted after President Alpha Condé went ahead with a bitterly contested referendum to revise the constitution.
Authorities could not be reached to confirm the casualty toll.
President Alpha Condé is proposing a change to the constitution to codify gender equality and introduce other social reforms.His opponents fear the real motive is to reset presidential term limits, allowing Condé, aged 82, to run for a third term in office later this year.
Conde, is Guinea’s first democratically elected president whose second and final term ends in December 2020, is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.
Originally scheduled for March 1, Condé postponed the referendum and a simultaneous legislative election late last month after international criticism of some 2.5 million dubious names on the country’s electoral roll.
Some 7.7 million people were on the register, of a total population of about 13 million people.
The polls were held despite the threat of covid-19 in the country.