Gabon’s first elections after the collapse of the Bongo Dynasty: What is at stake? | Election news

The small African Gabon state votes on Saturday in its first executive elections since a The military coup in 2023 The referee ended the family for 50 years for the Pongo political family.

Braice Clotaite Oligui Noguea, the head of the coup coup who has turned into a transfer, is the main candidate between four competitors and is widespread in the elections, despite the controversial repairs that he put in its place that experts say was designed to make it eligible to vote.

Gabon is located in West Central Africa, on the Atlantic Coast, rich in extracts such as crude oil. The country, with a population of 2.2 million, is also part of the vital Congo basin and features millions of acres of rainforests full of varieties of plant and animal species.

However, these natural resources have not been translated into any meaningful distribution of wealth, as one family and a small political elite have ruled over the past five decades. Experts say the opposition is weak. The press is largely without teeth. And the Jubonists do not trust politicians.

Gabon’s Lingua Franca is located on the equator, and includes local languages ​​Fang, MBERE and many others. Libreville, the lush coastal capital, is the largest city, followed by the town of Port Gentil.

Here is what to know about the vote:

When is voting – and how Gabon arrived here?

• Presidency vote The nine country provinces will be held on Saturday, April 12, from 7:30 am to 6 pm local time (06: 30-17: 00 GMT).
• The campaigns began on March 29 and will end on April 11. Voting is mandatory for adults.
• The elections were held several months before the deadline in August 2025, and the army was initially announced after August 30, 2023, which ended the rule of former President Ali Bongo Ondimba (2009-2023).
• The coup, Part of the military acquisition wave On the continent, it occurred on the same day, the results of the presidential elections were launched. The 60 percent winner of the winner of a third term was announced. The opposition, led by Albert Osa Osa of the alternative party, opposed the elections.
• Ondimba took over after the death of President Omar Bongo, his father (1967-2009). Between them, the duo ruled Father John Gabon for 56 years.
• The legislative elections were not announced. Currently, blue houses are working on representatives appointed by the military government.

Who runs?

Four candidates, all of whom are male, were approved by the Electoral College.

All of them work independently. This is because the candidates want to distance from the former Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), and Douglas Yates, a professor at the American Graduate School in Paris, said on the island. PDG has been in power since 1967 with a few opposition and represented the truly the only party.

Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema (50): As head of the Royal Guard, Nujima led the coup that toppled former President Ali Bongo, who is also his cousin, on August 30, 2023.

The former military general was an auxiliary camp for Omar Bongo before it was deployed abroad to the embassies in Morocco and Senegal. He then returned to the leadership of the Royal Guard, the elite that protects the president, a publication that continued until the seizure of power.

After the coup, Nujima promised to hand over a civilian government within two years. He was praised for a speedy transfer towards this transition instead of their military governmental counterparts in West African countries in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea. He was also able to maintain relations with the former colonial leader Japon, France, while others Actively Cut relations with France.

A new constitution confirming strict borders for a long time in the wake of a referendum in November.

Nujima promised to “raise” and convert the Gabon economically. He cleaned his military image since the coup, SUAVE sports suits and shirts in his updated and colored campaign marches. In one, walking was seen on the stage on stage to applaud loudly from his supporters.

Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze (57): In a country where the opposition was historically weak due to decades of elections that are widely seen as counterfeit, Bilie-By-Nze is the biggest challenge of Nugema.

Job politician, unlike many of his elite counterparts, comes from a low -income background. In 2015, he entered politics and continued to work in many ministerial positions during the era of Ali Bongo. The Prime Minister was until the coup of 2023.

With the support of the Gabon Political Group collection, Bilie -By-Nze has chosen a low-door to door in the period before the elections. He tried to underestimate his role in the previous government – until the former PDG party criticized, which was part of it until 2023. Its promises to “another Gabon” include focusing on urban renewal, better health insurance, and general economic growth.

However, experts say it is difficult for many voters to trust him.

“Despite his efforts to remove himself from his past, everyone knows that he was the last Prime Minister of Ali Bongo, and therefore he is deformed,” Yates said.

SS’s is a trainThe medical doctor, known as Eloco, was previously a spokesman for the former ruling PDG party before falling into the coup. It formed together for the Gabon Group with By-Nze, but the two men clashed, which led to the ILOKO exit in March.

His colored gatherings: In one event in Libreville, Eluko wore a traditional wrap and dance with his supporters, who assembled the shirts with his photos on it.

Despite his political past, Eloco claimed that he was “a candidate for 56 -year -old persecuted persons” in an interview with the L’Ion local publication.

He claimed that he tried to correct things in the past government, but was often closed. Now, it returns to provide jobs and build roads and schools, especially in rural areas. He also wants to reduce government spending and increase the well -being of teachers. As a strong critic of the military government, Iluko called for the establishment of an independent electoral committee, saying that the new constitution that was established in November gives the president a lot of power.

Joseph Labins Essengon (53): Technology, Essingone is a manager in the country’s tax directorate. He received his education in Gabon and France, and he presented himself as a new face in politics without any relationships with the previous polluted departments.

Essingone says he wants to “tear” the current political system and enter into economic reforms. He promised to end the mismanagement of resources and bad governance if elected.

Continue for the Bongo system?

NGUEMA is preparing to win the elections, and analysts agree.

His supporters praised him to take steps towards civil rule, including:

• Last April, he called for a “comprehensive national dialogue” for one month that included civil society and the diaspora members as one of the steps to return to civil rule.
• He supervised the writing of a new constitution that affirms strict borders for a long time. Before the elections, NUGEAMA also promoted infrastructure projects that he started since he became a pioneer: building more than 1400 km (870 miles) of new roads and distributed more than 400 taxis to people to generate work.

However, his critics are rushing to point out that Nujima is still part of the same institution that has ruled Gabon for decades and according to what was reported and wealth reaps these relationships.

• They argue that the national dialogue largely included military delegates.
• The Transitional Cabinet also included some Pongo era officials, as critics have indicated, and PDG has supported Ali Bongo his candidacy.
• While the Gabon rules do not allow the transitional presidents to run for positions, the new constitution that was approved in November allowed this. Critics say it was designed to operate NGUEMA, although it prevented some firm opposition leaders due to the requirements of age.
• The constitution also transferred the coordination of the elections to the Ministry of Interior instead of an independent committee.

“As we have seen with other military attacks of the authority in Africa in recent years, these transformations are accompanied by the decline in levels of civil freedoms, political participation and transparency,” said analyst Hani Wayla from the African Center for Strategic Studies of the Al -Jazeera Center.

“Those who criticized the military regime in Gabon were a target of intimidation. Consequently, what we see, is more like a continuous operation of the current unequal instead of progress.”

However, the fact that Nujima has made his promises in the elections and the development of infrastructure to start progress, Yetz of the American Graduate Studies in Paris said. Yates said the alternative would have been stuck.

“His most obvious quality is that, unlike the young man who was prepared for the Bongo wealth of the family, Oligui Nguea is already living in Gabon,” said Yates.

He was referring to the first son in Ali Bongo, London, Norddin Bongo, 33 Currently arresting the house In Gabon on charges of treason and fraud, with his mother and the French national, Silvia Bongo. The new Ngwima Constitution prevented a people from dual nationality from running for the presidency, a step many believe is aimed at Bongo’s heir. Ali Bongo was himself Absolute From the detention shortly after the coup is still in the capital.

Yetz added that Gabon’s democracy may be young, but she is on her way.

“As much as it is” real democracy, “he said, the best measurement of this concept on a” more “outstanding scale to” less “democracy. Here, the measurement improves.

What next?

• The results will be announced within two weeks of voting.
• Analysts say that the possibility of “free and fair” elections in the Gabon is dims due to the date of the falsification of the vote.
• There are also concerns about violence. In 2016, opposition protests erupted after Ali Bongo announced the winner.

• In 2023, the coup occurred when tensions began to rise in the country, although violence was not erupted.