Elections in Guinea

Guinea's formal electoral and referendum system rests on the Constitution of 26 September 2025 and Organic Law L/2025/026/CNT, together with the Electoral Code of 27 September 2025. It covers presidential, National Assembly, Senate, regional and communal elections, as well as constitutional, legislative and territorial referendums. OTIGE coordinates the electoral process through CNEL, which provides guidance and oversight, and DENEL, which manages technical operations. Regional, prefectural, sub-prefectural and communal offices support implementation. The DGE maintains a technical national election website, while MATD provides state support. The Constitutional Court reviews presidential, legislative and senatorial elections. Courts of appeal handle regional disputes, courts of first instance handle communal disputes, the Cour des comptes examines campaign accounts, and CRCA monitors media equality and compliance with the code of conduct. A voter must have Guinean citizenship, be at least 18 years old when the voter list closes, and retain civic and political rights. Naturalized Guineans may vote. Foreign nationals may vote only where an international agreement and reciprocal arrangements provide for it. Registration is both a right and a duty. A voter may appear on only one list and must be registered at the place of domicile. A person cannot vote without a voter card, registration on the relevant list and unrestricted civic rights. The biometric electoral register is built from the RNPP. Voters can check registration online with their personal identification number. Regular list revision lasts 60 days; an exceptional revision lasts 30 days and must begin at least six months before an election. A voter can collect the card using an enrolment receipt, national identity card, biometric passport or driving licence. The voter card, ballot and official voting materials are provided free of charge. The hotline is 105. Complaints about a card go first to OTIGE and may then go to a tribunal within 48 hours after OTIGE's 72-hour review period. The polling place is assigned according to residence. A public voting centre normally contains at least two polling stations, each serving 35 to 600 voters. The usual maximum distance is 5 kilometres in rural areas and 1 kilometre in urban areas. The centre and station lists must be published at least 45 days before election day. Voting normally takes place on one day from 07:00 to 18:00. People already waiting at closing time may vote. A late opening or missing materials can lead DENEL to order a compensatory extension. The campaign period lasts 30 days for presidential, National Assembly and Senate elections, 20 days for regional and communal elections, and 21 days for a referendum. Campaigning ends 48 hours before voting. Candidates may be nominated by a legally recognized party or stand as independents. Presidential candidates must be Guinean citizens aged 44 to 80, have their main residence in Guinea, retain civic rights, submit a medical health certificate and declare their assets. Candidates for the National Assembly must be aged 21 to 80, and Senate candidates aged 40 to 80. Candidate lists alternate women and men and must include at least 30 percent women. An independent presidential candidate needs endorsements from at least 30 percent of mayors in at least 70 percent of communes. An independent National Assembly candidate needs endorsements from 5 percent of regional or communal councillors. No endorsement requirement applies to Senate, regional or communal elections. OTIGE sets the required deposits. The deadline is 50 days before a presidential election, 55 days before a National Assembly election, 70 days before a Senate election and 45 days before a regional or communal election. Campaigns may use party funds, candidates' own funds, state subsidies, donations and legacies. They must use an electoral fund and campaign account, with accounts submitted to the Cour des comptes within 30 days after final results. Deposit refunds follow the applicable deadlines and thresholds; the Code does not fix one universal amount. The president is elected directly by majority vote in two rounds for a seven-year term, renewable once. The National Assembly has 147 seats: 98 are elected in single-member or multi-member majority contests in one round, and 49 through national proportional representation using an electoral quotient and highest-average method. Its term is five years. In 2026, 147 deputies were elected and the DGE reported that they took office on 17 July 2026. The Senate is elected indirectly by an electoral college of regional and communal councillors, with representation for the diaspora. Two thirds of senators are elected by majority vote in one round and one third are appointed by the president for six-year terms. Regional councillors are elected by communal councillors by majority vote in one round for five years. The regional council then elects its president and vice-presidents by secret ballot, requiring an absolute majority and, if necessary, a second round decided by relative majority. Communal councils are elected by proportional-list voting for five years. They elect the mayor and two to seven deputies by secret ballot and absolute majority. Quarters and districts have no separate elections; the communal council appoints their councillors. A referendum is decided directly in one round. Constitutional, legislative and territorial transfer, exchange or annexation referendums use a YES/NO ballot. An absolute majority of valid votes decides the result. The constitutional quorum is 60 percent; other referendums use a 50 percent quorum. The proposal must be published at least 30 days in advance in French and national languages, with accessible versions in large print, Braille and sign language. At the polling station, officials verify the voter card visually, by barcode or biometrically. The voter marks a single paper ballot, folds it personally and places it in a transparent sealed ballot box. The procedure also requires a left-thumb impression or signature and indelible ink. Phones are prohibited in the voting booth. A voter with a disability may use an assistant. Proxy voting is available for hospitalized or disabled voters, accredited observers, national candidate representatives, people absent on official duty and security or state employees. A proxy is issued from seven days to 72 hours before voting, and one person may hold no more than one proxy. Counting begins immediately at the polling station. Up to four scrutineers may participate, and candidate representatives and accredited observers may attend. Blank or unmarked ballots, irregular ballots, torn or blurred ballots, ballots with multiple marks and ballots with additional signs are invalid. Officials prepare the official record and a secure results sheet. Preliminary results are announced immediately and displayed at the polling station. Four sealed transmission sets are sent onward, and the centralisation process must scan or transmit results within 48 hours. DENEL publishes provisional results and uploads the polling-station records without delay. Representatives may inspect the process and record reservations. Challenges must be filed within eight days for presidential and National Assembly results, three days for Senate results, 72 hours for regional results with a further five-day appeal period at the Court of Appeal, and three days for communal results with a further 72-hour period at the court of first instance. If an election is annulled, a new vote is held within the applicable 30-, 60- or 90-day period. Presidential and National Assembly elections have the strongest direct effect on most voters, while Senate and regional elections are indirect. The DGE's published status for communal elections has shown inconsistencies, so any current status should be checked against the latest DGE publication and court decision.