20100919
africanews

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Political in-fighting is preventing Guinea's electoral commission setting a new date for the West African country's delayed poll, raising the danger of unrest, politicians and analysts said at the weekend.

Analysts say a successful election in Guinea, seen as a linchpin of stability in a region scarred by three civil wars, is key to billions of dollars in planned mining investments and could draw a line under decades of authoritarian rule since independence from France in 1958.

The European Union said authorities should set a revised date as quickly as possible.

"The EU considers such an unjustified delay risks harming a democratic process of historic importance," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

The decisive round of the first democratic election in the world's biggest bauxite exporter was due on September 19, but on Wednesday the electoral commission said it would be postponed, blaming a lack of necessary voting equipment.

Days earlier, street battles had killed one person and injured 50 as rival political camps traded accusations of attempted vote-rigging.

The commission said warring between rival candidates Celou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde was getting in the way of it fixing a date.

'FLAWED PROCESS'

"We would have preferred it if the President brought the two camps together and reached a consensus ... but instead, we are obliged to propose a date," said Pathe Dieng, operations director of the commission, known as CENI. CENI was supposed to meet last Thursday to choose a new date, but failed to convene.