Guinea’s interim prime minister denies bias ahead of tense presidential runoff vote

Guinea prime minister denies bias ahead of vote

CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea’s interim prime minister says he doesn’t favor one candidate over the other in next month’s historic presidential runoff election.

Jean-Marie Dore said Sunday that he considers both of the candidates his friends.

His comments come after front-runner candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo said he believed Dore’s interim government wants to alter the runoff’s outcome.

Diallo, who clinched 44 percent of the vote in the first round, is squaring off against Alpha Conde, who received around 20 percent and is believed to have Dore’s backing.

The West African country recently survived the one-year rule of a brutal military junta, and the Sept. 19 vote could choose the country’s first democratically elected leader ever.