20101203
RFI

Guinea's Supreme Court has declared Alpha Condé president, confirming results in the country's first free vote since independence after a two-week wait.

The court validated the 72-year-old's victory in a historic poll with 52.52 per cent of the vote.

A state of emergency, which saw at least seven deaths, was declared when rival candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo's supporters took to the streets two weeks ago because he claimed the vote was tainted by fraud.

"The candidate of the RPG [Rally of the Guinean People], Alpha Conde [...] is elected president of the Republic," magistrate Mamadou Sylla, who presides over the court's constitutional chamber, declared.

The Supreme Court rejected "unfounded" requests from Diallo to have results from two regions in Upper Guinea, Siguiri and Kouroussa, cancelled.

Diallo had claimed the Malinké ethnic group aligned with his rival of the same clan, carried out a violent campaign of "ethnic hatred" against members of his Fulani ethnicity in the area in October.