Gabon’s Transitional Leader Wins Presidential Election by Landslide

AP | Brice Oligui Nguema, head of Gabon’s transitional government and leader of the 2023 military coup, has claimed a sweeping victory in the country’s presidential election, securing 90.35 percent of the vote, according to provisional results from the Ministry of the Interior.

Oligui Nguema, who deposed long-time president Ali Bongo in August 2023, cast his ballot on April 12 at the Centre Urban Pilot School in Libreville. His nearest challenger, Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, received just 3.02 percent, with the remaining six candidates each polling under 1 percent.

Voter turnout stood at 70.4 percent.

This marks Gabon’s first election since the end of the Bongo family’s five-decade rule and a key step in the nation’s return to civilian governance. Oligui Nguema now begins a renewable seven-year term.

Approximately 920,000 voters were registered, including over 28,000 abroad, in a nation where one-third of the 2.3 million population lives in poverty despite significant oil wealth.

According to the Gabonese Civil Society Organizations Observation Mission, 94.8 percent of polling stations operated under satisfactory conditions, with transparency rated at 98.6 percent.

Oligui Nguema, 50, previously served as head of the Republican Guard before assuming power.