Gabon junta leader wins presidential election by landslide

Gabon’s military leader, Brice Nguema, who led the 2023 coup that ended Ali Bongo’s rule, has been declared the winner of the presidential election.

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Mr Nguema, who has led the country since the coup in 2023, won the election on Saturday with more than 90 per cent of the vote.

The 50-year-old military leader had contested the election alongside seven other candidates. This includes the former Prime Minister, Alain Bilie-by-Nze, who served under the Bongo regime, and two stalwarts of the former ruling PDG party, Stéphane Iloko and Alain Boungouères.

According to the BBC, prominent opposition figures who might have mounted a strong challenge were barred from contesting in the Saturday presidential election.

Mr Billie-by-Nze was the major political opponent to the military leader.

He received just over 3 per cent of the votes. Mr Nguema, on the other hand, won with 572,222 votes.

While announcing the election result, Gabon’s Interior Minister, Hermann Immongault, said, “Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is elected [president] by absolute majority of votes cast, with 575,222 votes.”

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The interior minister also said turnout for the election was 70.40 per cent, far higher than the 56.65 per cent who cast ballots in the August 2023 election that precipitated the coup.

Mr Nguema’s election win cements his hold on power, nearly two years after orchestrating the ouster of President Bongo, whose family had ruled Gabon uninterrupted since 1967.

It also grants him a seven-year term as president of the oil-rich country.

However, there are reports of irregularities and misconduct across polling units in the country.

According to multiple reports, voting was delayed at some polling units, and some eligible voters were unable to locate their designated voting centers.

Critics warned before the election that the revised constitution and updated electoral laws were tailored to facilitate Mr Nguema’s ascent to the presidency.

The Bongo Dynasty

The coup, which ended the Bongo dynasty, was carried out in August 2023, shortly after the presidential election that would have seen Bongo Ondimba retain power for a third term.

The opposition had rejected the result and described the process as fraudulent.

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The Bongo Ondimba dynasty began in 1967 when Omar Bongo seized power and went on to become Africa’s longest‑serving president, ruling Gabon for 42 years with a tight grip on the country’s oil wealth and political institutions.

However, following his death in 2009, his son Ali Bongo Ondimba succeeded him amid allegations of electoral fraud and deepening corruption.

Despite protests and calls for reform, the Bongo family maintained its hold on power until the 2023 coup.