Guinea's ruling party endorses incumbent president's candidature

Guinea President Alpha Conde was on Tuesday endorsed by his party, Rally for the Guinean People (RPG), as its candidate in the Oct. 11, 2015 presidential elections, party officials have said.

Conde's endorsement as the RPG candidate came at the end of a three day national convention that brought together the party's national governing council as well as its grassroots officials.

"We decided to support Conde because he is working hard to make our country an emerging economy and a prosperous nation," RPG coordinator Nantou Cherif said.

During the RPG convention, party officials decided to set up a national campaign team that will be expected to craft a better campaign communication message for the president's re-election bid.

"You have decided to work with me for our party's victory. If we remain united, nothing will stop us," Conde told his party's delegates after his endorsement.

On the same day, Guinean opposition parties organized "a ghost-town protest" in the capital Conakry to demand for free and fair elections.

The opposition's spokesman Aboubacar Sylla told the media the protest was aimed at "boycotting all social and economic activities" to demand for the opening of frank and sincere dialogue between the country's political actors.

He said the country was going through an "unprecedented political crisis" due to systematic breakdown of talks on the presidential elections.

"There is no consensus that has been achieved so far with regards to the electoral process," he said, adding that "the president's decision to announce Oct. 11 as the election date had shut another door for political dialogue."

"If the government does not reopen dialogue, we shall resume our street protests in Conakry and other interior towns," Sylla said, warning that the "opposition will not allow botched elections to go on." Endit