Colonel Mamady Doumbouya-led Guinea military junta has announced that a constitutional referendum will be held in 2024.
A critical step towards the restoration of civilian governance following a coup.
According to reports, Doumbouya, who has ruled since deposing the country’s first democratically elected president in 2021, announced the vote during a year-end speech late Sunday.
He, however, did not specify a date for the referendum.
“In the new year, a new constitution which resembles us and brings us together will be submitted to a referendum,” Doumbouya said in a statement.
He also promised a constitution “approved by the people and which is not a copy and paste but a constitution, which draws inspiration from the past to build our future together”.
Doumbouya also stated that state-appointed leaders would be nominated soon to lead local councils, which were elected in 2018 and whose terms expire in the first few months of the year; almost all of the councils are currently led by individuals from anti-military parties affiliated with ousted civilian ex-president Alpha Conde or former Prime Minister, Cellou Dalein Diallo.
Doumbouya stated that the announcements were made to “continue the significant efforts to return to constitutional order through the organisation of free, democratic, and transparent elections while adhering to the timeframe for restoring civilian government.
Conde was elected president in 2010 following decades of autocratic rule.
However, he came under growing scrutiny after enacting a constitutional amendment that some claimed was designed to allow him to seek a third term.