Army chief Brice Oligui Nguema seems to be to cement his grip on energy in nationwide vote.
Voters in Gabon have forged their ballots within the presidential election, as army chief Brice Oligui Nguema seems to be to cement his grip on energy within the first election since he led the 2023 coup.
Polls closed at 6pm (17:00 GMT) on Saturday and counting was beneath method, with interim outcomes anticipated in a single day or on Sunday.
Almost a million individuals, together with some 28,000 abroad, are registered to vote on this oil-rich however poor African nation of two.3 million individuals.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Libreville, stated that many citizens have been “caught between hope and concern”.
Nguema, who had been instrumental in ending 55 years of iron-fisted dynastic rule of the Bongo household led by former chief Ali Bongo, has been main in opinion polls. Bongo members of the family have been accused of looting Gabon’s wealth.
Aurele Ossantanga Mouila, 30, voted for the primary time ever after ending his shift as a croupier in a on line casino.
“I didn’t have faith within the earlier regime,” he stated.
Nguema took the position of transitional president whereas overseeing the formation of a authorities that features civilians, tasked with drawing up a brand new structure after the 2023 coup.
The election comes at a time of excessive unemployment, common energy and water shortages, an absence of infrastructure and heavy authorities debt.
Nguema ditched his army uniform as he campaigned for a seven-year time period in opposition to seven rivals, together with Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, who served as prime minister beneath Ali Bongo earlier than the coup.
He has predicted an “historic victory” within the election.
“The builder is right here, the particular candidate, the one you referred to as,” Nguema stated on Thursday, amid the music and dancing at his closing rally within the capital, Libreville.
However critics accuse Nguema, who had promised at hand energy again to civilians, of failing to maneuver on from the years of plunder of the nation’s huge mineral wealth beneath the Bongos, beneath whom he served for years.
Bilie By Nze, Nguema’s predominant opponent, has forged himself because the candidate for a “full rupture”.
“In actuality, it’s an election of complete change. It’s a problem and we’re at a crossroads,” he advised Al Jazeera.
He has accused Nguema, who led the Republican Guard within the Bongo years, of representing a continuity of the outdated system.
Nguema previously served as an aide-de-camp to Omar Bongo earlier than turning into chief of the presidential guard beneath his son Ali Bongo.
Whoever wins must meet the excessive hopes of a rustic the place one in three individuals lives beneath the poverty line regardless of its huge useful resource wealth, based on the World Financial institution.
Gabon’s debt rose to 73.3 p.c of gross home product (GDP) final yr and is projected to achieve 80 p.c this yr.
