Gabon elects new president with junta chief frontrunner

GABON votes on Saturday to pick a president with junta chief Brice Oligui Nguema the hot favourite to become the oil-rich country’s first elected leader since his August 2023 coup.

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Nineteen months after he ended more than five decades of Bongo dynastic rule widely viewed as corrupt, the 49-year-old career soldier has predicted a “historic victory” for himself against seven hopefuls.

Voters are expected to head to the polls with Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, the last prime minister under ousted leader Ali Bongo, widely considered Oligui’s most credible challenger.

The central African nation’s interior ministry has promised to release the results by April 16 at the latest.

Oligui, throughout a truncated campaign, has sought to shed his military strongman image while tapping into social media dance trends while styling himself as the “candidate of the people” to comply with the new electoral code voted in January, the junta chief has even temporarily hung up his general’s uniform to run for a seven-year term.