The politics of Guinea: institutions, Constitution, elections and diplomacy
Politics of Guinea: the current institutional framework
The politics of Guinea has been organised since 2025 around a new Constitution, approved by referendum on 21 September 2025, which founds the Fifth Republic. It entrusts the executive to a president elected by universal suffrage and provides for a Parliament of two chambers, the National Assembly and the Senate.
From transition to Constitution
In September 2021, a coup brought Colonel Mamady Doumbouya to power and opened a transition period governed by a charter. A twenty-four-month timetable, resulting from a compromise reached in October 2022 with ECOWAS, then set the stages of the return to constitutional order.
The text adopted in 2025 extends the presidential term to seven years, renewable once, introduces a two-chamber system and allows independent candidacies. It also makes the promotion of parity between women and men a fundamental principle.
Presidency and government
The presidential election was held on 28 December 2025. Mamady Doumbouya won it with 86.72% of the votes according to provisional results, and he was sworn in on 17 January 2026. Observation missions, including those of ECOWAS and the African Union, followed the vote.
The head of state leads the action of the government and foreign policy. During the transition, an unelected National Transitional Council exercised legislative functions; it ceased its work when the Assembly was installed.
Parliament and local elections
The legislative and municipal elections took place together on 31 May 2026. The National Assembly has 147 deputies, replacing the National Transitional Council: one third are elected from a national list by proportional representation and two thirds by a single-round majority vote in constituencies.
According to provisional results, the GMD coalition, which supports the presidential majority, won 98 of the 147 seats, and the Supreme Court validated the vote. The tenth legislature, the first of the Fifth Republic, was installed on 17 July 2026, and Dansa Kourouma was elected president of the National Assembly.
The Senate is to have 87 members: two thirds designated by regional and municipal councillors, one third appointed by the President of the Republic. The municipal councils had been dissolved in March 2024 and replaced by special delegations.
Diplomacy and regional memberships
ECOWAS lifted all its sanctions against Guinea in January 2026 and noted the restoration of constitutional order, which reopens to the country access to its decision-making bodies. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union, for its part, ended Guinea's suspension.
Guinea remains a member of ECOWAS and is not part of the Alliance of Sahel States, which brings together Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. It also sits at the United Nations and at the African Union, where it has regained its place.