Police use tear gas to disperse opposition protestors throwing rocks, during clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Conakry, Guinea May 23, 2013 (AP)
The four-week campaign for Guinea's June 30 parliamentary elections began on Thursday despite deadly protests by opposition activists who say the government intends to rig the vote.
A presidential decree setting June 28 as the final date for campaigning was read out just once on public radio late Wednesday but not broadcast on state television at the request of President Alpha Conde, station sources told AFP.
The poll, postponed several times in the past two years, has become a hot button issue in Guinea as it tries to move on from decades of dictatorship, coups and political violence.
The opposition has threatened to prevent the vote taking place unless it is delayed and has demanded that the South African company managing the electoral roll is replaced amid suspicions that it is colluding with the government to fix the result.
Opposition activists refused to submit lists of candidates and have organised several marches demanding free and fair elections which have ended in deadly clashes with security forces in recent months.
Over the last week alone, at least 12 people have been killed and 89 have been wounded in escalating violence, according to the government, which is launching an inquiry into the deaths.
A statement released late Wednesday by the opposition put the toll at 18, "most of whom were killed by live rounds", and said hundreds had been injured.
The last legislative elections were held in 2002 under then president Lansana Conte, who ruled the former French colony for 24 years until his death in December 2008, which prompted a disastrous coup marked by extreme police brutality.
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