Gabon has a new president, and the path he took to get there is the story itself. Brice Oligui Nguema, 50, once commander of the Republican Guard, has now been sworn into office after a vote his own interior ministry called a landslide.
The numbers back the word. Nguema took 90.35 percent of the April 12 ballot, according to provisional results, while his nearest challenger, Alain-Claude Bilie Bie Nze, managed just 3.02 percent. None of the six other candidates reached the 1 percent mark. Turnout stood at 70.4 percent.
All of it follows a familiar script, rewritten. Nguema came to power in August 2023 by ousting Ali Bongo and ending a dynasty that had governed for more than 50 years. He once promised to hand power back to civilians. Instead he ran himself, under the Rally of Builders platform, and now holds the office he first seized by force.
At a stadium north of Libreville, a Constitutional Court judge administered the oath as the ceremony was broadcast live, with several African heads of state looking on. The committee that governed after the coup dissolved the same week, closing 18 months of transition. His stated priorities: economic sovereignty, day-to-day living standards, youth unemployment.
What lingers for ordinary families is simpler than the politics. A third of Gabon’s 2.3 million people live in poverty even as oil wealth flows, and the question now is whether a man who took power by force can be the one to share its rewards.
Sources
- Nguema wins Gabon election in landslide – Businessday NG
- Gabon swears in former junta leader Brice Oligui Nguema as president
