Guinea junta leader Mamady Doumbouya and eight other candidates have been approved to run in next month’s presidential election, according to a list published by the Supreme Court at the weekend.

Doumbouya vowed not to run when he seized power in the West African country in 2021. But a new constitution pushed by the military-led government and approved in a referendum in September opened the door to his candidacy.

Two strong potential challengers, a former President Alpha Conde and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, are ineligible because of age and residency rules in the new constitution.

Doumbouya put his name forward last week, a move that could keep him in power for another five years. He is running as an independent.

Doumbouya will compete against relatively low-profile candidates such as Abdoulaye Yero Balde, former minister of higher education and deputy governor of the central bank, and Faya Millimono, an opposition leader critical of the junta.

Lansana Kouyate, a former prime minister whose candidacy was not accepted, plans to appeal, his party said on Facebook.

Doumbouya's government in 2022 proposed a two-year transition to elections after negotiating with regional bloc ECOWAS, but it missed that deadline.

The election scheduled for December 28 is intended to cap a formal transition to civilian rule.