THE election victory in Guinea of General Mamadi Doumbouya was upheld today, cementing the junta leader’s transition to president four years after staging a coup.

Mr Doumbouya won the West African country’s first election since the 2021 revolt after polling 86.7 per cent of the votes, according to the General Directorate of Elections.

His victory, which had been predicted by analysts, was confirmed by the Supreme Court in the capital Conakry.

“Today, there are neither winners nor losers. There is only one Guinea, united and indivisible,” Mr Doumbouya said in a broadcast late on Sunday, calling on citizens to “build a new Guinea, a Guinea of peace, justice, shared prosperity and fully assumed political and economic sovereignty.”

Abdoulaye Yero Balde, the runner-up who won 6.59 per cent of the vote, had filed a petition accusing the electoral body of manipulating the results in Mr Doumbouya’s favour. But authorities said he withdrew the petition a day before the Supreme Court verdict.

The December 28 election was held under a new constitution that revoked a ban on military leaders running for office and extended the presidential mandate from five years to seven years.

Critics say Mr Doumbouya has clamped down on political opponents and dissent since the coup, leaving him with no major opposition among the eight other candidates in the race.

Despite the country’s rich mineral resources including being the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, which is used to make aluminium, more than half of its 15 million people are experiencing record levels of poverty and food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.

The junta’s most important initiative has been a mega-mining project at Simandou, the world’s largest iron ore deposit. The 75 per cent Chinese-owned project began production in December after decades of delays.