REPUBLIC OF GUINEA
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 21 DECEMBER 2003
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Parties
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* PUP - Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès (Party of Unity and 
   Progress)

Candidate              Party        Votes       %
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Mamadou Bhoye Barry                   178,395   04.4
Lansane Conté          PUP          3,908,824   95.6
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Total                               4,087,219
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CNN reported on this election:

Guinea's ailing President Lansana Conte was declared the victor in 
presidential elections boycotted by this West African nation's 
opposition, securing a landslide victory with over 95 percent of 
the vote, according to provisional results released Thursday. 

The lone challenger, Mamadou Bhoye Barry, won just over four 
percent of the vote in Sunday's poll, Territorial Administration 
Minister Moussa Solano announced over state radio and television. 

The victory gives Conte, who has ruled this West African nation 
since a 1984 coup, another seven years in power. 

Conte's win was virtually assured when opposition parties pulled 
out of the race in November, alleging Conte had no intention of 
organizing free or transparent elections. The government denied 
the charges. 

The European Union declined to send observers, saying Conte's 
grip on state media was too tight to allow a fair campaign. All 
radio and television stations are controlled by the government. 

Barry said the vote was rigged, and vowed to contest the result. 

"My lawyers are going to do the work. They will file an appeal at 
the Supreme Court," Barry told The Associated Press. "It is my 
right to do so and it's the only means I have to contest the 
results." 

Solano said voter turnout was 82 percent. About 5 million of the 
country's 9 million inhabitants were registered to cast ballots. 

Conte, 69, suffers from a severe stomach ulcer and diabetes, and 
has had difficulty walking in recent weeks. He appeared in public 
only once during the campaign, and didn't attend his own closing 
campaign rally in Conakry last week. 

Barry's tiny Union for National Progress party has traditionally 
allied itself with the ruling Party for Unity and Progress in 
parliament. 

Guinea has only had one other leader since it gained independence 
from France in 1958. Former dictator Sekou Toure died in 1984 
during heart surgery at a U.S. hospital and Conte, then an army 
colonel, staged a coup and declared himself president a week 
later.