Guinean President Alpha Conde was sworn in for his third term on Tuesday amid growing election fraud and violence claims.
At a swearing-in ceremony in Conakry, the 82-year-old Conde spouted a message of unity, despite opposition leader’s claims that his third term is an illegitimate one.
“During the last two mandates, I noticed that the poor anonymous people in villages were abandoned by ministers and senior civil servants,” Conde said in a speech to regional heads of state and governments. “We need to change our practices,” Conde said. “We are committed to fighting corruption. We want to govern differently. This means that ministers must put themselves at the service of the people and not their families.”
Conde won a hotly contested October 18 election with 59.49 percent of the votes, while opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo secured just 33.5 percent.
Unfortunately for Conde’s opponents, there is no way to appeal the constitutional court decision, which stated that his win was legitimate and the results of the election would be honored.
Monitors from the African Union and the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, also insisted the presidential election was conducted properly.
“I Alpha Conde, president of the republic elected in accordance with the constitution, I swear before the Guinean people and on my honor, to respect and scrupulously enforce the provisions of the constitution of laws and decision of justice, to defend the constitutional institutions, integrity of territory and national independence, in case of perjury, that I endure the laws and the rigors of the law,” he Conde said during the ceremony.
