The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

After more than 50 years of authoritarian rule, Guinea held its first competitive presidential election on June 27, 2010. As no candidate received a majority of votes, a run-off election was held on Nov. 7, 2010, following months of delays, political uncertainty and significant civil unrest. On Nov. 16, 2010, Alpha Condé of the Rally for the Guinean People was declared the winner over Union of Democratic Forces candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo. Diallo moved quickly to calm tensions by publicly accepting the results and congratulating President-elect Condé, calling on his supporters to turn their focus to the upcoming legislative elections. Condé was finally sworn in Dec. 21, 2010.

The next major milestone in building the country’s new democracy will be  legislative elections currently slated for Dec. 29, 2011, to replace the current National Transition Council. Election stakeholders have yet to reach a consensus regarding the process for establishing an appropriate legal framework for these elections. Therefore, some observers expect that the polls, which should have taken place within a constitutionally set time period of no more than six months after the presidential vote, will be further delayed. An assassination attempt on President Condé on July 19, 2011, and a series of nationwide opposition demonstrations during the week of Sept. 27, 2011, vividly demonstrate the fragility of Guinea’s nascent democracy.

Current Activities

In July 2011, NDI launched a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program to support credible, peaceful and inclusive legislative elections in Guinea. The program is designed to strengthen the role of political parties and civil society in the election process while integrating the participation of Guinean women as political party members, candidates, civil society activists and voters. NDI will offer technical assistance to political parties to improve their ability to compete in the legislative elections, focusing on subjects such as campaign skills training, incorporating citizen feedback into policy, articulating issue-based campaign messages and organizing and implementing party pollwatcher efforts on election day.

Throughout the legislative election cycle, the Institute also will conduct activities to strengthen the country’s political party code of conduct and to advocate efforts to increase opportunities for women in politics. In recent months, the Institute supported the Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee and the Working Group of Girls and Women of Guinean Political Parties to hold general assembly meetings at which they developed and adopted their respective operational plans for the upcoming year. Additional focus will aimed toward working with Guinean youth to build support for peaceful and credible polls. On Oct. 22, NDI launched a series of twelve roundtable discussions for youth leaders from political parties and civil society in the five communes of Conakry and in the country’s seven administrative capitals. The discussions will culminate in the issuance of a joint declaration on behalf of all participants committing to adherence of the code of conduct throughout the electoral cycle and denouncing all forms of election-related violence.

NDI’s assistance to Guinean civil society organizations in 2011 will focus on the development and implementation of a domestic election observation program that would build upon previous efforts undertaken by the Consortium for Domestic Election Observation in Guinea (Consortium pour l’Observation Domestique des Elections en Guinee, CODE), the Institute’s domestic monitoring partner for Guinea’s 2010 presidential elections.  In a significant expansion of scope from its last election observation program, CODE’s monitoring of the legislative polls will include not only the deployment of trained citizen observers to a strategic sample of Guinea’s polling stations but also the revision of the country’s voters list, the campaign period and the post-election period. 

Past Programs

Supporting Guinea’s democratic transition and historic presidential elections

To support the 2010 presidential election, NDI worked with Guinean political parties, civil society organizations and women political leaders to help them better participate in the country’s electoral process through party pollwatching, a domestic election monitoring program, and mobilization of women activists. Launched in August 2008, the program aimed to promote transparent and credible elections through increased participation in the electoral process by political parties, civil society and women. The program was temporarily interrupted in the last quarter of 2009 by the insecurity created by the Sept. 28 massacre, when the presidential guard fired on unarmed civilians at a peaceful political rally in Conakry and killed over 150 people, and resumed in early 2010.

Through this program, NDI assisted domestic civic groups to deploy 2,000 observers to conduct nonpartisan election monitoring for the first and second rounds of the presidential election; conducted party pollwatcher trainings so political parties could deploy pollwatchers to all the country’s regions on election day; and worked with political parties to promote their effective participation in the electoral process through platform and message development workshops and the mobilization of women party activists. NDI worked with political parties to draft a code of conduct that set standards for political party behavior during the electoral period. To date, leaders of 89 political parties have signed the code.

During the same time period, a complementary United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-funded program allowed NDI to support a peaceful electoral process by encouraging dialogue among key electoral actors and facilitating their acceptance of the first round presidential election results. Launched in May 2010, this program aimed to enhance prospects for a peaceful transition by promoting dialogue and collaboration between key election stakeholders – including political parties, the transitional legislative body (Conseil National de la Transition, CNT), civil society, the election commission and other transition actors. Under this program, NDI organized a high-level mission of senior leaders from the region to demonstrate support for the transition process and to reinforce the importance of dialogue in democratization efforts. In addition to delegation activities, awareness-raising campaigns about the political party code of conduct were organized in Conakry and in each of Guinea’s 33 regions. These campaigns included disseminating copies of the code of conduct in French and I local languages and hosting town hall meetings and roundtables on peaceful and fair elections, which were broadcast by local radio stations.

In the immediate post-electoral period, NDI used follow-on funding from both organizations to assist political parties to identify lessons learned in preparation for the 2011 legislative elections and to promote the participation of women (USAID), increase civic awareness of Guinea’s political party code of conduct and strengthen political parties’ commitment to adhere to codes of conduct in future elections (UNDP).  At a workshop held March 31-April 2, 2011, leaders of at least 70 political parties validated a document outlining political parties’ lessons learned and recommendations on improving adherence to the code.  In June 2011, NDI expanded Code of Conduct Monitoring Committees to the sub-prefectural level in 77 sub-prefectures deemed the most prone to election-related violence.

Strengthening Political Processes

In 1998, NDI’s efforts to support democratic political processes in Guinea began during the lead up to the presidential election. The Institute trained political party pollwatchers and conducted radio-based voter education. Guineans from a variety of backgrounds acknowledged the contribution of NDI's work to the reduction of political tensions at that time.

• Guinea: December 1998 presidential election training guide for political party poll monitors»
• Guinea: Supporting the democratic process, September 1998-January 1999»

Promoting Inter-party Dialogue

Following an NDI-sponsored study mission to Morocco in 1999, representatives of Guinean political parties produced a joint declaration on the important principles of democracy – the first multiparty public statement of its kind. In 2000, a subsequent study mission in Ireland further enhanced dialogue among party leaders. In 2001, NDI conducted a series of forums around the country focusing on inter-party dialogue, democratic principles and issues of national and local concern. NDI also organized a series of discussions in Conakry and in each of the country’s regions that brought together political party leaders and government officials to discuss election-related topics, including the need for neutral administration of the electoral process and ways to reduce political violence.

Political Party Strengthening

In preparation for the 2003 presidential elections, NDI trained members of Guinean political parties to help them actively participate in the campaign and election. NDI developed a manual, translated into eight local languages, to supplement a series of training-of-trainers workshops for political party activists interested in monitoring the voter registration process. In collaboration with a forum of women political party activists, NDI produced a series of radio messages to encourage Guineans, particularly women and youth, to register to vote. In June 2003, NDI sponsored a roundtable for high-level political party representatives to discuss the future of the political process in Guinea. The participants submitted a series of reform recommendations to the minister of territorial administration and decentralization, including:

• use of transparent ballot boxes and the single ballot system;

• neutrality of the election commission

• equal access to state media for all parties

• the publication of a private media law

• mobilization of national and international election observation missions

• setting a realistic timeline for presidential elections

Participation of Women and Youth in Political Processes

Since 2000, NDI has worked with women and youth members of political parties in Guinea to improve their leadership, public speaking, political communication and lobbying skills. Following a September 2001 study mission to Dakar, Senegal, women political party members conducted a multiparty lobbying effort to encourage party leaders to ensure greater opportunities for women. NDI also provided technical assistance in campaign skills, grassroots constituency outreach, advocacy and lobbying strategies to female political party representatives.

In June 2003, NDI held a seminar to assist women members of eight major political parties to develop their political communication and leadership skills. National and international experts gave presentations on topics including the participation of women in modern political parties and the recruitment of women voters.

In 2006, NDI initiated a program to help increase women's participation in the legislative elections originally scheduled to take place in June 2007. Through NDI’s trainings, 98 Guinean women political activists enhanced their understanding of the steps involved in preparing an effective electoral campaign, including campaign organizing, advocacy, fundraising, filing paperwork and developing and delivering a campaign message.

Funding

NDI’s past and current programs in Guinea have been primarily funded by USAID. In addition to USAID resources, NDI received a UNDP grant in 2010 to promote a peaceful and inclusive electoral process.

Contact Information

For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:

Conakry, Guinea
Arsene Gbaguidi, Resident Director
agbaguidi@ndi.org

Washington, D.C.
Lauren Kunis, Senior Program Officer
lkunis@ndi.org

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