Guinea to start releasing results of legislative election

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea pledged to begin releasing results from a weekend legislative election on Wednesday as they trickle in from 12,000 polling stations across the West African country, reversing a decision to delay their publication. The National Electoral Commission (CENI) had said on Tuesday that it would take days longer than expected to release a result, adding to political tensions in the West African country. Results had originally been expected within 72 hours of Saturday's vote, which was preceded by months of political haggling and violent protests. The opposition had warned it would not tolerate any attempt to rig the vote. "We have decided to publish the results everyday from 8 p.m. (2000 GMT), depending on their availability," CENI spokesman Alpha Yero Conde said. A European Union observers mission on Monday had urged the commission to publish results on a bureau-by-bureau basis to make them as transparent as possible. After over two years of political haggling, millions of Guineans went to the polls to vote for a national assembly, touted as the completion of the mineral-rich West African country's transition to democracy after a 2008 military coup. No party is expected to win an outright majority in the 114-seat parliament and coalition-building is expected in the aftermath. A small number of provisional results from the overseas vote published by the commission on Tuesday showed a tight race between President Alpha Conde's ruling party his main opposition rival Cellou Dalein Diallo.