Voters in Gabon headed to polling stations on Saturday in the first presidential election since a 2023 military coup ended a political dynasty that lasted for more than 50 years.
Some 920,000 voters, including over 28,000 overseas, are registered to participate across more than 3,000 polling stations. It is a crucial election for the country’s 2.3 million people, a third of whom live in poverty despite its vast oil wealth.
The interim president, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba two years ago.
He hopes to consolidate his grip on power for a new seven-year term in office, renewable once.
Nineteen months after overthrowing president Bongo, whose family ruled Gabon for more than 55 years, Nguema has pitched himself as a change agent cracking down on the corrupt old guard.
Nguema, 50, has criss-crossed Gabon in a baseball cap with the slogan, “We Build Together” during the campaign.
‘Votes delayed due to some logistical problems’
He has been leading in opinion polls.
His main challenger is Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, who was serving as prime minister under Bongo before the August 2023 coup, the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020.
A new constitution approved in November cleared the way for Nguema’s candidacy.
Analysts say his status as the frontrunner comes from a sense that people were broadly happy with the coup and him being the most visible candidate during the campaign.
Nze’s close ties to the old government – which was accused by critics of vote-rigging – also undermine his warning that Nguema poses a threat to Gabonese democracy, said Florence Bernault, a historian of Central Africa at Sciences Po.
“He doesn’t seem to be very well placed to criticise,” Bernault said.
Power cut
Gabon’s economy grew by 2.9% in 2024, up from 2.4% in 2023, driven in part by infrastructure projects and increased production of commodities such as oil, manganese and timber, according to the World Bank.
But many voters told Reuters they were mostly concerned about basic services, citing power cuts that plague the capital.
“We talk about it every day. So this is a primary urgency because we don’t want to have this anymore, these daily power cuts,” said 40-year-old electrician Herve Regis Ossouami.
“I don’t know a Gabonese person who would say they don’t want water and electricity.”
How the Bongo family gained a fortune from Gabon’s oil reserves
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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