Guinea’s military government leader, Mamady Doumbouya, has officially entered the presidential race, submitting his candidacy for the December 28 elections, aimed at restoring constitutional order following the general’s 2021 coup.

Doumbouya arrived at the West African country’s Supreme Court in an armoured vehicle on Monday to formally hand in his candidacy, surrounded by special forces. He left without giving a statement.

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Thousands of his supporters, who had travelled to the capital, Conakry, by bus, gathered outside the court, chanting: “Mamady champion, Mamady president, Mamady already elected!”

Doumbouya, 40, had promised not to run when he seized power in 2021. But a new constitution pushed by the military government and approved in a referendum in September opened the door to his candidacy.

The new charter replaced arrangements agreed to after the coup, which had barred members of the military government from contesting elections. It also requires presidential candidates to live in Guinea and be between 40 and 80 years old.

This would bar two potentially powerful candidates – former President Alpha Conde, 87, the country’s first freely-elected president, who lives abroad, and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, 73, who is in exile over corruption allegations that he denies.

Other candidates, including former Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate and former Foreign Minister Hadja Makale Camara, have submitted their applications and would be able to stand.

In a statement on Monday, the opposition Living Forces of Guinea (FVG) alliance condemned Doumbouya’s candidacy as “a disastrous turning point in our country’s history” and accused him of trampling on “the solemn commitments” he made not to run for president.

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Impoverished Guinea, a former French colony that is home to 14.5 million people, has long been blighted by coups and violence from hardline governments.

However, it experienced a period of democratic transition following the November 2010 election of Conde, until he was overthrown by Doumbouya in September 2021.

Since coming to power, Doumbouya has significantly restricted freedoms.

The military government has banned demonstrations and has arrested, prosecuted or pushed into exile several opposition leaders, some of whom were victims of forced disappearances.

Several media outlets have also been suspended and journalists arrested.

Guinea became the second country in sub-Saharan Africa after Ghana to gain independence in 1958, before the decolonisation wave of the 1960s. It is home to the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the world’s richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou.