Presidential elections were held in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

on 21 December 2003. Incumbent

Lansana Conté Lansana Conté (; 30 November 1934 – 22 December 2008

won over 95.6% of the vote after most opposition parties boycotted the elections.

Candidates

Conté ran for another seven-year term despite serious health problems, including diabetes, which caused some to doubt his ability to continue as President."GUINEA: Ailing Conte is sworn in for another seven term"
IRIN, 20 January 2004. He was unanimously nominated as the candidate of the ruling

Unity and Progress Party The Unity and Progress Party (, PUP, founded in 1992) is a political party in Guinea. It functioned as the ruling party during much of the long rule (1984-2008) of President Lansana Conté. In terms of ideology, the PUP advocates the unity of Gu ...

(PUP) in September 2003, but he said that he would not participate in campaigning. Demands from the Republican Front for Democratic Change (FRAD) opposition coalition concerning the creation of an independent electoral commission and access to state media were unfulfilled by the government, and consequently all the major opposition leaders chose to boycott the election."GUINEA: Conte faces virtually no opposition in presidential election"
IRIN, 12 November 2003. Although the main opposition politicians chose to boycott, six others tried to run but saw their candidacies rejected due to technicalities. Aside from Conté, only one candidate was permitted to run: Mamadou Bhoye Barry of the

Union for National Progress The Union for National Progress (, UPRONA) is a nationalist political party in Burundi. Initially it emerged as a nationalist united front in opposition to Belgian colonial rule but subsequently became an integral part of the one-party state esta ...

. Barry was known as a supporter and friend of Conté; as a veterinarian, he also cared for Conté's livestock. Despite his failing health, Conté was officially certified as being medically fit to stand as a candidate.

Results

With no serious opposition, Conté was re-elected by an overwhelming margin. Turnout was officially placed at 86%, despite the opposition boycott and lack of competition; however, FRAD claimed that turnout was actually less than 15%."GUINEA: Conte sacks economic team in reshuffle"
IRIN, 2 March 2004. Conté was sworn in for his new seven-year term on 19 January 2004 and vowed to fight corruption in a television broadcast on the occasion.

References

Presidential elections in Guinea

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

{{Africa-election-stub