* Guineans eager for results, rumours starting to spread
* Electoral body sees possible delay to provisional tally
By Richard Valdmanis
CONAKRY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Crowds gathered in voting precincts around Guinea's capital on Tuesday awaiting election results two days after a presidential run-off election, with supporters of rival candidates betraying hope and frustration.
With the election commission silent on official results, scraps of paper were circulated with unofficial figures, sparking tussles in places, in an apparent tit-for-tat propaganda campaign between the rival camps.
The vote is meant to end nearly two years of military rule in the West African minerals producer, but analysts fear the outcome could trigger clashes between ethnically divided political camps after a turbulent campaign period.
"You can see that people are anxious for results. It has been two days since we voted and we've heard nothing from the electoral commission," said Etienne Bongoro, an engineer who joined dozens of supporters of candidate Alpha Conde outside a precinct in Conakry's Miniere neighbourhood.
The stakes are high in the contest pitting Conde against former Prime Minister Cellou Dallein Diallo, and analysts say the final tally could be close.
A smooth election could shore up fragile gains at stability in a region known as Africa's "coup belt" and close the book on decades of at-times harsh authoritarian rule in the impoverished former French colony.
But Guinea's electoral commission has yet to release any results from the poll, and said on Monday that a full provisional tally could take until Friday -- two days longer than proscribed by the country's constitution.
Any prolonged delay could open the door to allegations of fraud and stir tensions between the rival camps, which largely represent Guinea's two biggest ethnic groups the Peul and the Malinke, analysts have said.
Guinea is the world's largest supplier of the aluminium ore bauxite, and its iron ore riches have drawn billions of dollars of planned investment from companies like Rio Tinto and Vale.
RUMOURS, FALSE NUMBERS
The group of Conde supporters in Miniere broke out in cheers and spilled into a busy roadway after a sheet of paper was passed around showing a Conde victory in Conakry.
"Diallo's people came here this morning and released their own numbers on sheets of paper from the back of a car," said Mamadi Sanoh, who was among the crowd.
"Their numbers are completely false," Sanoh added.
Supporters of Diallo, meanwhile, gathered quietly outside a precinct in nearby Dixinn where votes were being counted.
A brief scuffle broke out when provisional results were posted on the wall inside the precinct, before the document was quickly taken down.
"We don't want to cause a stir. People must wait for the official results from the electoral commission," an official at the station said, asking not to be named.
International election observers have said Sunday's vote -- which had been delayed for months after the June 27 first round -- appeared largely free and fair despite minor deficiencies.
But they warned against extended delays to releasing the results and called for calm.
"We encourage the candidates to ensure that their followers behave responsibly just as we believe they themselves would behave responsibly," General Yakubu Gowon, co-leader of the Carter Center mission in Guinea, said at a press conference. (Editing by David Lewis)
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