Guinea’s government has dissolved 40 political parties, including all three of its main opposition groups, in a sweeping late-night decree that rights groups and civil society leaders say has effectively ended organised political opposition in the West African nation.
The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation issued the order late on Friday, citing the parties’ failure to fulfil their legal obligations. The decree immediately stripped the affected parties of their legal status, barred them from conducting any political activity and prohibited the use of their names, logos, emblems and other identifying symbols. Their assets were placed under sequestration, with a curator appointed to oversee the transfer, though the decree did not specify which entity would ultimately receive them.
Among the dissolved groups are the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), led by exiled former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo; the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), the party of deposed former president Alpha Conde; and the Union of Republican Forces (UFR). The dissolved list also includes the historic PDG-RDA party, which governed Guinea from 1958 to 1984.
The move came less than two months after President Mamady Doumbouya, 41, was sworn into office following a December 28 election widely criticised by observers. Doumbouya claimed 86.72 percent of the vote in an election from which all major opposition candidates were barred from participating.
Civil society groups condemned the dissolution immediately. Ibrahima Diallo, a leader of the pro-democracy National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), said the move had formalised a dictatorship as the country’s permanent mode of governance, warning that Guinea was sinking into profound uncertainty.
The pattern of targeting extends beyond party structures to the families of opponents. Earlier this week, three relatives of Tibou Kamara, a former minister under Conde, were kidnapped. Four family members of exiled opposition figure Elie Kamano were abducted in November, and the father of exiled journalist Mamoudou Babila Keita was seized in September. Two senior FNDC activists have been missing since July 2024.
Doumbouya first seized power in a 2021 coup that toppled Conde, Guinea’s first freely elected president. A referendum held last September reshaped the country’s constitution to allow junta members to contest elections and extended the presidential term from five to seven years, renewable once.
Guinea is rich in mineral resources, yet more than half of its population of 15 million people live below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures for 2024.
