On Sunday September 19 citizens of Guinea are supposed to go to the polls to choose their new president in a run-off vote after June’s presidential elections did not reveal a clear winner. The two candidates for what observers hope will be the final stage of Guinea’s first truly democratic election are veteran opposition leader Alpha Conde and ex-Prime Minister Cellou Diallo. Things are going awry awry. Last week the head of Guinea’s election commission and a senior aide were sentenced to a year in jail for fraud during June’s vote. Sunday’s polling is now being delayed for two weeks after two people died in political clashes over the weekend.
