Guinea is holding a presidential election in which incumbent military leader General Mamady Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup, is widely anticipated to secure victory.
Some 6.7 million registered voters will go to the polls, which opened at 07:00 GMT on Sunday and will close at 18:00 GMT.
The former special forces commander, aged 41, faces eight other candidates in the election, as ousted President Alpha Conde and longtime opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo remain in exile.
The opposition has called for a boycott of the vote in the mineral-rich country where 52 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank figures.
While long blighted by coups, Guinea experienced a democratic transition with the November 2010 election of Alpha Conde, the country’s first freely elected president. Doumbouya overthrew him in September 2021.
Under Doumbouya, Guinea effectively “reverted to what it has essentially known since independence in 1958: authoritarian regimes, whether civilian or military”, Gilles Yabi, founder of the West African think tank Wathi, told the AFP news agency.
Provisional results could be announced within two days, according to Djenabou Toure, head of the General Directorate of Elections.
Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.
The campaign period “has been severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom”, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday.
These conditions “risk undermining the credibility of the electoral process”, he added.
Opposition leader Diallo has condemned the vote as “an electoral charade” aimed at giving legitimacy to “the planned confiscation of power”.
In September, Guinea approved a new constitution in a referendum, which the opposition called on voters to boycott.
The new document allowed military leaders to stand for election, paving the way for Doumbouya’s candidacy.
It also lengthened presidential terms from five to seven years, renewable once.
Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.
Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output. His government this year also revoked EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation’s licence after a refinery dispute, transferring its assets to a state-owned firm.
The turn towards resource nationalism – echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – has boosted his popularity, as has his youth in a country where the median age is about 19.
“For us young people, Doumbouya represents the opportunity to send the old political class into retirement,” Mohamed Kaba, a mechanic in Conakry, told the Reuters news agency.
“There is a lot of corruption right now, but I hope these things will be sorted out.”