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Electoral authorities in Guinea on Saturday declared President Alpha Conde winner of Sunday's election with 59.49% of the vote, defeating his main rival Cellou Diallo.
Some people went to the streets to protest immediately after the announcement. Such demonstrations have occurred for months after the government changed the constitution through a national referendum, allowing Conde to extend his decade in power.
Opposition candidate Cellou Diallo received 33.50% of the vote, the electoral commission said. Voter turnout was almost 80%.
Political tensions in the West African nation turned violent in recent days after Diallo claimed victory ahead of the official results. Celebrations by his supporters were suppressed when security forces fired tear gas to disperse them.
They accuse the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent president Alpha Conde.
At least nine people have been killed since the election, according to the government. The violence sparked international condemnation by the U.S. and others.
``Today is a sad day for African democracy,'' said Sally Bilaly Sow, a Guinean blogger and activist living abroad. The government should take into account the will of the people who have a desire for change, he said.
ICC warning
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor warned on Friday that warring factions in Guinea could be prosecuted after fighting erupted.
“I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages and contributes in any other way to crimes … is liable to prosecution either by the Guinean courts or the ICC,” she said.
#ICC Prosecutor #FatouBensouda: "I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages or contributes, in any other way, to the commission of #RomeStatute crimes, is liable to prosecution either by #Guinean courts or by the #ICC."
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 23, 2020
On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
The campaign coincides with a new documentary
Don’t Let High Turnout Distract You From the Reality of Voter Suppression
Kentucky and Georgia are having historic turnouts, but that doesn’t mean voters aren’t facing major obstacles
Voters cast fill out their ballot during Tuesdays Kentucky primary on June 23, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Photo: Brett Carlsen/Getty ImagesKentucky and Georgia’s historic voter turnouts for primary elections are a tremendous victory, one that speaks to the backbreaking work of thousands of volunteers, organizers, and candidates (many of them Black, Indigenous, and of color) who drove out the vote in their districts.
Though there appeared to be few issues during Election Day, poll workers temporarily locked out several Jefferson County voters who were unable to reach the polling place by 6 p.m. due to traffic leading to the Expo Center.
And now Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is refusing to mail absentee ballot applications to voters for the August runoff and November general election.
And though it may be true that Kentucky and Georgia broke records in their primary voter turnout, it is also true that these states, and many others, can do far better in November.
Virginia, long seen as a critical state in American politics, has also been a barometer of the nation’s racial climate and is being closely watched to see what direction it takes in the way of social justice.
If she becomes governor, McClelland would be the second Black governor of VIrginia, following Doug Wilder, and the first Black woman ever voted into the job making history in the state as well as in the nation.
She spoke with BET.com about her plans to address social justice and equality, and also focus on answering the racial issues that have come out of the state over the past few years like the deadly protest incident in Charlottesville in 2017 and Black Virginia voters’ influence on electoral politics.
RELATED: Second Black Woman Enters Race For Virginia Governor
BET.com: You wouldn’t be the first Black governor of Virginia, but you would be the first Black woman governor and the first Black woman to hold the position in the country.
McClelland: There's so many aspects of public safety, but the bottom line is just making sure we have healthy thriving communities and a lot of the civil unrest, whether it was then or now, is due to an inability to come to terms with the racial inequity and 400 years of trauma and the inability to address that and heal.
(CMC): More than 383,000 voters in Suriname will go to the polls on Monday to elect a new government amid predictions that voter turnout could decline.
The paper reported that another setback for the polls is likely to be a “polluted’ voters list.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Desi Bouterse, has dismissed an opinion polls published on Friday indicating that the ruling party would be defeated in the election.
In the 2015 poll, the party won 27 of the 51 seats and 80 per cent of the votes cast.
The research agency, Idos, in a statement Friday noted: “With a few days to go to the ballot box on May 25, a substantial part of the voters can still be counted among the floating voters.
Early Kingdoms in the Region:
The first inhabitants of the region [now Equatorial Guinea] are believed to have been Pygmies, of whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19th centuries brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of Fang may have generated the Bubi, who immigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded former Neolithic populations.
The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese via Sao Tome.
Europeans Discover the Island of Formosa:
The Portuguese explorer, Fernando Po (Fernao do Poo), seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1471. He called it Formosa (pretty flower), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer [it is now known as Bioko]. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain in exchange for territory in South America (Treaty of Pardo).
From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base on the island to combat the slave trade. The Treaty of Paris settled conflicting claims to the mainland in 1900, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.
Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in what was commonly known as Spanish Guinea during the first half of this century.
Through a paternalistic system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers.
At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped Equatorial Guinea achieve one of the continents highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health care facilities.
A Province of Spain:
In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was
