Octogenarian hardliner set to extend 4-decade rule

BRAZZAVILLE: Congo-Brazzaville held elections yesterday in a vote expected to extend 82-year-old President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s more than four decades in power in the oil-rich central African country.

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Sassou Nguesso: Last term in office

Six candidates are standing against Mr Sassou Nguesso but the main opposition is divided and largely absent, leaving him set to win another five-year term.

The former paratrooper colonel is already one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, along with Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

Observers expected voter turnout to be at a record low.

The president toured the country during the election campaign period, which ended on Friday, backed by the ruling Congolese Workers’ Party (PCT), urging voters to come to the ballot box.

The second round of voting, if there needs to be one, is in theory three weeks later. The date the results of the first round will be announced has not yet been announced.