The military ruler who seized power in Guinea four years ago has formally entered the country’s presidential race, in a move that has heightened fears of a compromised transition to democracy. General Mamadi Doumbouya, who led the 2021 coup, submitted his nomination papers on Monday November 3, 2025, despite an earlier pledge not to seek office.
Doumbouya arrived at the Supreme Court in Conakry under tight military escort, dressed in his trademark dark glasses and green beret. He offered no public statement, but his candidacy has already intensified debate over the credibility of next month’s election.
Two of the West African nation’s most influential opposition parties — the RPG Arc-en-Ciel and the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) — have been excluded from the ballot, prompting widespread concern about the integrity of the process. Their absence follows the imposition of a steep 875 million Guinean franc (about $100,000) deposit required for presidential hopefuls, a figure critics say is prohibitively high for many candidates.
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The December vote will be the first national election since the coup that toppled President Alpha Condé. At the time, Doumbouya, then a 36-year-old Colonel, vowed that neither he nor any member of the junta would pursue political power. “As soldiers, we value our word very much,” he declared in 2021. Now, under a revised constitution, that promise has been abandoned.
Human rights groups and opposition figures say Doumbouya’s administration has stifled dissent through media suspensions, internet restrictions and the violent suppression of protests. Yet Doumbouya justified his coup by accusing Condé — then 83 — of corruption and democratic backsliding. Observers argue the same criticisms now apply to his own rule.
The 40-year-old leader is the youngest sitting Head of State in Africa. A former French Legionnaire, he served in conflict zones including Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic, before rising to national prominence.
Several key political figures — including Condé and former Prime Ministers Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Touré — remain in exile, leaving a political vacuum that Doumbouya is now seeking to formally fill.
The upcoming election was once seen as a pivotal step toward restoring civilian rule. Now, many fear it may instead cement military control over Guinea’s political future.
