Equatorial Guinea: President Obiang re-elected with 94.9% against muzzled opposition

The Equatorial Guinean Head of State, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in power since 1979, was re-elected without surprise on Saturday November 26 with a triumphant official score of 94.9% in the presidential election, in a country he held with an iron fist and in the face of a muzzled opposition.

"

", announced Faustino Ndong Esono Eyang, President of the Electoral Commission, who specified that the participation rate stood at 98%. .

The re-election of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Obiang left little doubt.

He has always been elected with more than 93% of the vote, at the head of a coalition of 15 parties led by his all-powerful Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE).

Several of his supporters exulted in the room at the announcement of the results, with cries of "

", while in the streets of the capital, Malabo, the atmosphere was calm, without outpouring of joy or particular celebrations. , noted an AFP journalist.

Victory in Parliament

In addition to the presidential election, the PDGE and its coalition won all 100 seats for deputies and 55 for senators at stake in the legislative and local elections which were held simultaneously.

The PDGE, which had 99 seats in the outgoing National Assembly, even won a deputy.

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The percentages obtained by the opposition candidates, Andrés Esono Ondo of Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), the only opposition party that is not banned, and Bonaventura Monsuy Asumu, of the Social Democratic Coalition Party (PCSD) , were not disclosed.

They won 9,684 and 2,855 votes respectively - out of more than 400,000 voters - in one of the most closed and authoritarian regimes in the world where the opposition remains repressed and muzzled.

" in advance

.

"

", he had asserted, before the election, denouncing what he considers a "

".

Contacted by AFP, the main opposition candidate did not react to the results immediately.

In the weeks leading up to the ballot, as before each election, the security forces carried out a ruthless campaign of arrests of opponents.

On the grounds this time, according to the regime, that they thwarted an opposition “

” planning “

” in Malabo and Bata, the economic capital.

Longevity record

“

”, wrote on Twitter his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, alias Teodorin, vice-president of the country and a time tipped to succeed him.

A total of 427,661 Equatoguineans out of 1.4 million inhabitants were registered on the electoral rolls of this small Central African oil state led for four decades by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who holds the record for longevity of heads of state in office. , excluding monarchs.

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The 80-year-old head of state seized power in a coup in 1979 in this country independent of Spain since 1968. His regime is regularly accused by international NGOs and Western capitals of repressing any opposition and trampling on human rights, and blamed for endemic corruption.

“

,” reacted to AFP Justo Bolekia, Equatoguinean writer and professor at the University of Salamanca.

Third oil producer and third richest country in sub-Saharan Africa by GDP per capita in 2021, according to the World Bank, the bulk of Equatorial Guinea's wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few.

The Bretton Woods institution has no recent data on the country but it estimated in 2006, when the oil windfall was in full swing, that nearly 80% of the population lived below the poverty line (less than 1. $9 per day per capita).