GUINÉE ― CONAKRY
— Officially: République de Guinée.
— English: Guinea-Conakry.
— Seat of government: Conakry / Kɔnakiri / Konaakiri.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The president is elected directly. The legislature (Assemblée Nationale) is elected through party-list proportional representation and geographical constituencies.
— Governing party: Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen.
— Heads of government: Alpha Condé, RPG, president; Mohamed Said Fofana, prime minister.
— Chief opposition parties: Union des Forces Démocratiques de Guinée; Union des Forces Républicaines.
— Recent history: Autocrat Lansana Conté seized power in 1984 and claimed victory in numerous tainted elections. He arranged to be able to rule indefinitely. Protests and civil unrest in 2007 led to a promise by Conté to devolve some power to a prime minister. But his choice of close ally Eugène Camara did not appease protesters; continued protests led to the choice of Lansana Kouyaté (2007-8) from among nominees by trade unions and other opposition groups. Conté died in power in 2008, prompting an immediate seizure of power by the Conseil National pour le Développement et la Démocratie, a military faction, from the nominal state institutions of Conté; Moussa Dadis Camara became president and increasingly behaved autocratically. An assassination attempt on Camara in 2009 left him hospitalized abroad; acting president Sékouba Konaté crafted a transition to civilian rule, appointing opposition figure Jean-Marie Doré as premier. Camara, who had planned to keep power himself, endorsed this reluctantly. A 2010 presidential election went to a runoff between Cellou Dalein Diallo (UFDG), linked to Conté, and longtime opposition leader Alpha Condé, which Condé won.
— FH: 5-5, partly free (not democratic). Econ: 2.79 (146), authoritarian.
— Updated: 2014 December 3.
O.T. FORD