Guinea incumbent Conde re-elected with 57.85% of votes

Guinea: Final results from the first round of Guinea's contested presidential election show that incumbent Alpha Conde has been re-elected with 57.85 percent of votes, the country's electoral commission (CENI) announced Saturday.

"Ahead of the definitive confirmation of the results by the Constitutional Court, CENI declares that professor Alpha Conde has won in the first round," said commission president Bakary Fofana.

Opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, who has condemned the vote as fraudulent, came second with 31.44 percent, CENI added.

Turnout in the October 11 election stood at 68.38 percent, it said, lower than the commission's initial estimate of almost 75 percent.

The final tally showed the incumbent winning more than 2.28 million votes, according to CENI, almost twice as many as his main challenger Diallo, who had just over 1.24 million.

Diallo has refused to recognise the results and has called for protests over the election, which he claims was marred by fraud and mismanagement.

The opposition has criticised the very high turnout in known pro-Conde strongholds, complaining of an unfair geographical spread of voter cards.

Responding to the criticism, CENI's Fofana insisted the distribution of electoral cards took place "without any exclusions".

The election was only the second democratic presidential poll since Guinea gained independence from France in 1958.

Conde, 77, had gone into the campaign promising to deliver a "KO blow" to his opponents by winning