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Authorities in Guinea have dissolved 40 political parties, including the country’s three main opposition groups, through a late-night government decree.
The decision comes less than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president, following December elections in which major opposition leaders were banned from contesting.
According to a decree issued late Friday by the minister of territorial administration and decentralisation, the parties were dissolved for “failure to fulfil their obligations.”
The order also stripped the parties of their legal status and placed their assets under state control.
Among the dissolved groups are the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), led by Cellou Dalein Diallo; the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), led by former president Alpha Condé; and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR).
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned”, the order said.
It also prohibits the groups from engaging in “all political activities” or using their “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols”
The decree further stated that the parties’ assets have been placed under sequestration, with a curator appointed to supervise their transfer, although it did not specify the entity that would take control of them.
Doumbouya, 41, came to power in 2021 after leading a military coup that ousted Condé, Guinea’s first democratically elected president.
Since taking power, his administration has faced criticism from rights groups over restrictions on civil liberties, including bans on protests and the arrest or exile of political opponents.
Guinea has experienced repeated periods of military and authoritarian rule since gaining independence from France in 1958.
