20100703
reuters

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea will hold a run-off in its presidential election later this month after former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo won a first round vote but failed to secure a majority, provisional results showed on Friday.


The national election commission CENI said Diallo had won 39.72 percent of the ballots in Sunday's election, well ahead of veteran opposition leader Alpha Conde, who came in second with 20.67 percent. If the results are confirmed, the two will face off in a July 18 run-off.

The poll has been billed as the best chance for the West African state, the world's No. 1 exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, to emerge from over half a century of authoritarian and military rule since winning independence from France in 1958.

"Subject to the validation of results by the Supreme Court, the two candidates who have obtained the most votes go forward into the second round," election commission Ben Sekou Sylla told reporters, saying turnout had totalled 77 percent.

Another former prime minister, Sidya Toure, came in third with 15.6 percent of the vote.

A total of 24 candidates lined up for the first-round. They now have eight days to challenge the results in the Supreme Court, which then has three days to make a ruling.

Results had been due on Wednesday but Guinea's Supreme Court gave the election organisers an extra 48 hours to publish results, citing logistical and other problems.

The delay came after European Union observers said they were broadly satisfied with the vote while the United States, a major financial backer of the elections, urged political parties not to overstate suspected cases of fraud.