Bah Oury, Prime Minister of Guinea, speaks as he attend a panel during the Africa CEO Forum at the Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, May 12, 2025. REUTERS/Luc Gnago
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The prime minister of junta-ruled Guinea announced a new date of December 2025 for elections, seeking to reassure investors in a speech at an African business forum on Monday.
Guinea is ruled by military leader Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a coup in September 2021, and in 2022 proposed a two-year transition to elections but then did not take steps to organise a vote.
The junta later set and missed a deadline of December 31, 2024 for a return to a civilian administration.
Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah announced the new date on Monday at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, while speaking about the West African country's Simandou iron ore project.
The announcement comes a month after the government set September 21, 2025, as the date for a constitutional referendum, which authorities have said would be a precursor to any election and a return to constitutional rule.
"The constitutional referendum will be on September 21 and the legislative and presidential elections will be in December," the prime minister said.
"I can assure you that Simandou's first train will arrive before the elections."
In July 2024 the junta presented a draft of a new constitution which may allow Doumbouya to participate in the next presidential election.
Guinea's two former ruling parties are currently suspended. The other major opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, has been placed under surveillance.
(Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila; Writing by Portia Crowe and Alistair Bell)
