Gabonese voters voted on Saturday in a presidential election widely expected to make junta chief Brice Oligui Nguema the oil-rich central African country’s first elected leader since his 2023 coup.
Oligui led the Aug. 30, 2023, putsch that ended 55 years of dynastic rule by the Bongo family, who were accused of looting Gabon’s wealth.
“I am very confident. May the best man win,” said Oligui, who has been leading in opinion polls, as he cast his ballot alongside first lady Zita at a school in the center of the capital Libreville before a media scrum of clicking cameras.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Snaking queues were seen outside polling stations in the seaside city as voting got underway in bright sunshine after a stormy night.
After voting ended at 6:00pm, the Gabonese Ministry of the Interior said turnout had run to 87.12 percent.
The country of 2.3 million people is casting ballots at a time of high unemployment, regular power and water shortages, a lack of infrastructure and heavy government debt.
Despite successive plans, only 2,000 of the 10,000km of roads in the country are usable, official data showed. Derailments are frequent on the sole rail link and youth unemployment exceeds 60 percent in rural areas.
Oligui ditched his military uniform as he campaigned for a seven-year term against seven rival candidates, including Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, who served as prime minister before the coup.
About 920,000 voters were eligible to cast ballots, with final results expected today.
Oligui has predicted a “historic victory.”
However, critics accuse Oligui, of failing to move on from the years of plunder of the country’s vast mineral wealth under the Bongos, whom he served for years.
Oligui’s image has been plastered all over the capital Libreville during his campaign, while those of his rivals are nowhere to be seen.
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