Guinea's former prime minister, Sidya Toure, accepted defeat Thursday in the country's presidential poll. He initially contested first-round results after placing third.
Sidya Toure came in third in the first round of Guinea's presidential poll with 13 percent of votes. His support could prove pivotal in an upcoming run-off between the two top-scoring candidates with whom Toure said he is in negotiations.
Speaking to the press Thursday, Toure said his Union of Republican Forces party, or UFR, seeks "active responsibility" and will not take on the role of "spectator" in any alliance for the second round of Guinea's presidential poll.
Toure says any alliance made by his Union of Republican Forces party, or UFR, will be guided by the party's economic and social development agendas. He says it will be the party that offers UFR the most assurance of the implementation of its plans. He says UFR is seeking a strong alliance that will allow its members to share power with the party it aligns with. He says UFR wants to play a decisive role.
Guinea's Supreme Court announced definitive results this week for the first round and overruled challenges to provisional results brought by many of the first round's 24 presidential candidates, including Toure.
Former prime minister, Cellou Dallein Diallo, led the first round with 43 percent of votes, and long-time opposition leader, Alpha Conde, came in second, with 18 percent.
Diallo and Conde will now face off in a second round of voting that the electoral commission says could take place within two weeks.
The presidential poll is meant to return the country to civilian government after a military coup in December 2008 and many hope it will be the country's first free and fair presidential election since independence in 1958.
Despite logistical challenges, the first round of voting was largely applauded by international observers.
The electoral commission has not yet announced a date for the second round.
