Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
2025 Gabonese presidential election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
A presidential election was held in Gabon on 12 April 2025.[1] They were the first election in the country since the Bongo dynasty was overthrown in the 2023 coup after 56 years in power. Incumbent transitional president Brice Oligui Nguema ran as an Independent, under his Rally of Builders platform.[2]
.jpg)
Voter turnout was 70%, the highest since 1993, the first multi-party elections.[3] The following day, Oligui was proclaimed the winner of the elections, receiving 90% of the votes, while his main opponent Alain Claude Bilie By Nze received 3%.[4]
Remove ads
Background
Summarize
Perspective
In August 2023, a general election was held, where incumbent president Ali Bongo won a third term with 64% of the votes. The results were heavily controversial and disputed and four days later, the Gabonese Army and the Gabonese Republican Guard, led by Brigadier General Brice Oligui Nguema, who was a cousin of Bongo, led a coup d'état which ousted and arrested Bongo and his government, annulled the election results, and dissolved all state institutions. The military assumed control of the country and established a junta with Nguema as transitional president.[5][6][7]
On 13 November, the junta promised free and fair elections to be held.[8] Nguema and the junta promised to return power to civilians at the end of a two year military transition. However in early March 2025 he resigned from the military and presented himself as a civilian and therefore eligible to run as a candidate.[9]
On 9 January 2025, Oligui announced that the country would hold a presidential election on 22 March 2025. This decision followed the adoption of a new constitution in November 2024, which establishes a presidential system with term limits and stricter eligibility requirements.[10] However, on 22 January, the government announced that the election would be held on 12 April 2025.[1] The date was six months earlier than the transition arrangement allowed for.[9]
On 20 January, the Transitional Parliament approved a new electoral code, allowing members of the security forces and magistrates to run for office and reserving two seats in parliament for members of the Gabonese diaspora. An age limit of 70 was set for president, barring the most well-known opposition candidates.[11][12] It also allowed dual nationals to become candidates except in presidential elections, without having to renounce their other nationality and moved the responsibility of organizing elections from local governments to the interior ministry.[13]
Applications were submitted between 27 February and 8 March 2025.[14]
Constitutional referendum
On 16 November 2024, Gabon held a constitutional referendum, which was approved by 91% of the electorate.[15] As a result, the post of Prime Minister was abolished, presidential terms were set at seven years, renewable once, and the president was required to have at least one Gabonese parent and a Gabonese spouse. The referendum was also seen by many as a key step towards the return to civilian rule after the 2023 coup.[16]
Remove ads
Electoral system
The President of Gabon is elected for a seven-year term via the two-round system.[17]
Candidates
Declared and accepted
- Brice Oligui Nguema, transitional president (Rally of Builders)[18][19][2]
- Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, former prime minister (Ensemble pour le Gabon)[19]
- Stéphane Germain Iloko, former Gabonese Democratic Party executive (Large Rassemblement Arc-en-ciel)[19]
- Joseph Lapensée Essigone, lawyer and tax inspector (Independent)[19]
- Gninga Chaning Zenaba, entrepreneur (Independent)[20]
- Axel Stophène Ibinga Ibinga, entrepreneur (Independent)[20]
- Thierry Yvon Michel Ngoma, entrepreneur (Independent)[20]
- Alain Simplice Gombré, civil engineer, transport economist and civil servant (Gabonese Patriotic Party)[20]
Declared and not accepted
Not allowed due to age limit
Conduct
The Gabonese foreign ministry said that the African Union and the European Union would send observers to monitor the election.[25] Around 3,000 polling stations were utilised to serve around 920,000 voters, including 28,000 based overseas.[26] The Gabonese Civil Society Organizations Observation Mission said at least 94.8% of the polling stations that it observed operated under satisfactory conditions, while 98.6% of polling stations operated in a satisfactorily transparent manner.[27]
According to initial reports, international observers "did not notice any major incidents".[28] The Commonwealth Observer Group praised the presidential election as calm and orderly, and commended the improved media landscape with media stakeholders experiencing reduced state interference in editorial content, but called for citizens to become more involved in the electoral process.[29] However some opposition heavyweights who could have posed a serious political challenge were excluded from the race according to the BBC.[30]
Remove ads
Results
Provisional results released on 13 April showed that Oligui had won 90.35% of the vote while Bilie by Nze won 3.02%, with the remainder going to six other candidates. Turnout was estimated at 70.4%.[31]
On 18 April, Interior and Security Minister Herman Immongo held a press briefing to correct "errors" in the previously announced election results. After a full centralization of the protocols, the results showed Oligui receiving 94.85% of the votes.[32] The corrected results were submitted to the Constitutional Court, which certified them on 25 April.[33]
Remove ads
Aftermath
Bilie by Nze described the election as "unfree" and marred by the "hijacking of all State resources". Bilie By Nze added he nevertheless wishes the new leadership good luck and promised to remain in politics.[34]
Oligui was officially inaugurated as president on 3 May.[35] Gninga Chaning Zenaba was appointed as Minister of Entrepreneurship, Trade and SMEs by presidential decree two days later on 5 May.[36]
Remove ads
Notes
- Independent candidate endorsed by the Rally of Builders.
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads