DAKAR, Senegal — Guinea’s government dissolved 40 political parties by decree on Friday, including the country’s largest opposition groupings, prompting the exiled leader of the main opposition party to accuse President Mamadi Doumbouya of building a one-party state.
The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization cited “failure to meet their obligations” as the grounds for the dissolution, which strips the affected parties of their legal status and bans their political activity, including the use of their names, logos, emblems, and symbols.
The mass dissolution extends a pattern of political consolidation by Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 military coup and won a December 2025 presidential election from which all major opposition leaders were barred, leaving Guinea’s fractured opposition with fewer formal channels to contest his rule.
Cellou Dalein Diallo, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea — one of the dissolved parties — said in a Facebook video posted Sunday that traditional political channels had been exhausted.
“I urge the leaders, activists and supporters of the UFDG, and all Guineans who cherish liberty and justice, to rise as one and use every means to bring an end to this exceptional regime that has lasted far too long,” Diallo said, adding that dialogue and legal avenues were no longer likely to deliver political change.
Among the most prominent parties dissolved are Diallo’s UFDG; the Rally of the Guinean People, the party of former President Alpha Condé; and the Union of Republican Forces, led by opposition figure Sidya Touré. All three leaders are living in exile.
The three parties had already been suspended in August 2025, shortly before a referendum that allowed Doumbouya to run for president. Under his rule, several other political parties and media outlets had been suspended, and numerous opposition leaders and civil society figures had been arrested or forced into exile.
Guinea is among several West African countries that have experienced a coup or coup attempt since 2020, as military officers have seized on popular discontent with deteriorating security, faltering economies, and disputed elections.