Gabon’s junta chief Brice Oligui Nguema has won the presidential election with 90.35 per cent of the vote, according to provisional results released Sunday by the interior ministry.
Nguema, who ended more than five decades of corruption-plagued rule by the Bongo family in August 2023, assuming the role of transitional president, had promised to return the country to democratic rule.
Earlier Sunday, Gabon 24 television had reported that he was “well ahead” in several of the central African country’s provinces.
On Saturday, voters had flocked to the ballot boxes to have their say in an election marking the end of military rule. The latest provisional figures from the interior ministry put the participation rate at 70.4 per cent.
The day after voters poured into polling stations, the streets of the capital, Libreville, were calm – in contrast with previous elections in 2016 and 2023, marked by tensions and unrest.
For the first time, foreign and independent media were allowed to film the ballot count.
International observers at polling stations across the country did not notice any major incidents, according to first reports.
In total, some 920,000 voters were called to cast their ballots at 3,037 polling stations, of which 96 were abroad.
Nguema will have to reckon with the oil-rich country’s litany of problems, from crumbling infrastructure to widespread poverty, all while labouring under a crushing mountain of debt.
He has sought to shed his military strongman image and even ditched his general’s uniform to run for a seven-year term.
The junta leader has dominated the campaign, with his seven challengers, led by ousted leader Ali Bongo’s last prime minister, Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, largely invisible by comparison.
