Gabon coup leader eyes seven-year mandate in presidential vote

LIBREVILLE, April 12 (Reuters) – Gabon’s coup leader Brice Oligui Nguema is looking to cement his grip on power as the oil-producing Central African nation holds a presidential election on Saturday that analysts expect to be a one-sided affair.

Nineteen months after overthrowing President Ali Bongo, whose family ruled Gabon for more than half a century, Nguema, 50, has pitched himself as a change agent cracking down on the corrupt old guard.

Nguema, who has been interim leader since leading the coup as an army general, has criss-crossed Gabon in a baseball cap with the slogan “We Build Together” during the campaign.

He has vowed to diversify its oil-reliant economy and promote agriculture, industry and tourism in a country where a third of the population lives in poverty.

“We have liberated the country to give its people hope,” he said on Thursday during his final rally in the port city of Owendo.

Polling stations are scheduled to open at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), with the result due on Sunday. The winner will serve a seven-year term, renewable once.

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.

Nze, 57, has tried to distance himself from the Bongo family while questioning Nguema’s ability to run, telling Reuters this week that military men should “go back to their barracks”.

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 that it denied – 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.

Nearly 900,000 voters are registered to cast ballots at polling stations across the densely forested and sparsely populated country of around 2.5 million people. An additional 28,000 are registered to vote abroad.

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.”