Guinea Junta Leader Doumbouya Declared Winner of Presidential Election

Guinea’s junta leader Mamadi Doumbouya has been provisionally declared winner of the country’s first presidential election since the 2021 coup, securing 86.7 percent of votes counted so far. The vote, held under a new constitution allowing military leaders to run and extending presidential terms, took place amid a weakened opposition and persistent economic hardship despite Guinea’s mineral wealth.

Junta leader General Mamadi Doumbouya has been declared the winner of Guinea’s presidential election, according to incomplete results released late on Tuesday. The election marks Guinea’s first presidential vote since the 2021 military coup that overthrew President Alpha Condé and is widely viewed as a move to legitimise Doumbouya’s continued hold on power.
Preliminary results announced on Tuesday showed that Doumbouya secured 86.7 percent of the votes counted so far, giving him a commanding lead over his rivals. The announcement followed the centralisation, verification and compilation of provisional results from the first round of voting.
Speaking to reporters, Djenabou Touré of Guinea’s General Directorate of Elections said the process had been conducted in strict compliance with the law. She stated that Mr. Mamadi Doumbouya, the candidate of the GMD party, had obtained an absolute majority of valid votes cast and was therefore provisionally declared elected in the presidential election held on December 28, 2025.
Doumbouya contested the election against eight other candidates. However, the political opposition has been significantly weakened following a sustained crackdown on dissent by the authorities, including the dissolution of more than 50 political parties. Several prominent opposition figures were either barred from contesting the election or are currently living in exile.
Yéro Baldé, a former education minister under the Condé administration, placed second in the race with 6.5 percent of the votes, far behind the junta leader. The General Directorate of Elections also announced a high voter turnout, saying that 80.9 percent of the country’s 6.7 million registered voters participated in the election.
The vote was conducted under a new constitution approved by referendum in September. The constitution lifted a ban that had prevented military leaders from running for political office and extended the presidential term from five years to seven years.
Despite Guinea’s vast mineral wealth, including its status as the world’s largest exporter of bauxite used in aluminum production, the country continues to face deep socio-economic challenges. According to the World Food Program, more than half of Guinea’s estimated 15 million people are experiencing record levels of poverty and food insecurity.