JURIST - Paper Chase: Guinea high court declares Conde winner of presidential election

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Guinea on Friday declared Alpha Conde the winner of November's presidential run-off election, validating the provisional results of the electoral commission and throwing out claims of electoral fraud. In light of escalating post-election violence, the Guinean government declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] last month, just three days after Conde was provisionally declared the winner by the electoral commission. The confirmation of the election results [Reuters report] by the Supreme Court was to bring the state of emergency to an end. Cellou Dalein Diallo, Conde's presidential rival, also conceded defeat on Friday.

In November, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], Fatou Bensouda, issued a statement [text, PDF] lamenting the killing of seven people [JURIST report] in a post-election violence in Guinea. Bensouda urged security forces to refrain from using excessive force against civilians. The statement asserted that the ICC would evaluate all reported acts of violence resulting from the crackdown. November's election ended two years of military rule under a transitional government formed by military captain Moussa Dadis Camara [BBC profile], who staged a coup in the wake of the death of former president Lansana Conte [Guardian profile], the nation's ruler for 24 years. In September, two Guinean election officials were convicted of election fraud [JURIST report] and sentenced to a year in jail in connection with irregularities that arose in the June presidential primary election, one incident in a string of controversies responsible for multiple delays of the runoff, which was initially scheduled for July [Reuters report].