Guinea: low turnout in the legislative and local elections boycotted by the opposition

The 6.8 million registered Guinean voters were called to the polls on Sunday, May 31, 2026, for a dual legislative and municipal election intended to complete the institutions established by the new Constitution, five months after the presidential election on December 28, 2025. Polling stations opened late in Conakry according to Guineematin correspondents, and low turnout was noted in several municipalities of the capital from the early hours of voting, particularly in Gbessia and Sonfonia.

Voters were to choose 147 deputies for the future National Assembly, which will replace the National Transitional Council (CNT) using a mixed voting system: 98 seats filled by single-member and multi-member voting in local constituencies, and four seats reserved for the diaspora (Africa, Europe, America, Asia). The municipal elections simultaneously addressed the renewal of the municipal councils in the country’s 342 municipalities, with the last local elections dating back to 2018.

The participation rate was the main issue of the election. The last week of the campaign coincided with two religious celebrations, Pentecost and Eid al-Adha, which caused significant population movements back to their hometowns and villages, mechanically reducing the number of voters present in their registered municipality on voting day. An electoral agent met in Gbessia acknowledged that mobilization had remained low “since the opening,” citing the rain among other reasons.

A vote without the major historical opposition parties

The Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) of Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG) of former President Alpha Condé, and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR) of Sidya Touré did not participate in the election, following their dissolution by the authorities in March 2026. Twenty-one political parties were retained from the 28 that submitted a national list, according to figures from the General Directorate of Elections (DGE). Also absent is the Model party, whose president Aliou Bah has been in detention since December 26, 2024.

The presidential coalition Generation for Modernity and Development (GMD), which supported Mamadi Doumbouya’s candidacy in the presidential election, was clearly the favorite in this reconfigured political landscape. The Forces Vives de Guinée, grouping civil society organizations and dissolved parties, called for a boycott, denouncing the lack of inclusivity in the process, the dissolution of many parties, and what they characterize as a restriction of public freedoms. During a mass in Nzérékoré, Bishop Raphaël Balla Guilavogui called for the preservation of political pluralism “without trying to silence dissenting voices.”

The final step of a disputed electoral cycle

This dual election constitutes the last step in the electoral cycle initiated by the transitional authorities following the coup d’état of September 5, 2021. The constitutional referendum of September 28, 2025, approved by 89.38% of votes with an official participation rate of 86.42%, paved the way for the new Constitution. The presidential election of December 2025 confirmed the victory of Mamadi Doumbouya. These two consultations had already been boycotted by the Forces Vives.

For the authorities, the election on May 31 was meant to officially conclude the transition and establish a complete return to constitutional order. For its critics, it occurs in a context of artificially reduced political competition due to the dissolution of parties. The final results had not been published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) at the time of closing the writing.

Guinea, a country of 14 million inhabitants in West Africa, has been an observer member of the Sahel States Alliance since the 2021 coup and maintains tense relations with ECOWAS, from which it has been suspended. The establishment of an elected National Assembly would formally be the last institutional criterion required to consider lifting regional sanctions.