Gabon will hold a presidential election on Saturday, marking the country’s first vote since a military coup in 2023 ended the Bongo family’s 56-year rule. The election is widely seen as a crucial step for the junta to formalize its grip on power and signal a return to constitutional order.
General Brice Oligui Nguema, who led the coup last August, is the frontrunner. Once promising to restore civilian rule, Nguema appointed himself transitional president and officially announced his candidacy last month.
His main opponent is Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, a former prime minister under ousted President Ali Bongo. Nze now leads a new political movement, “Together for Gabon,” aiming to distance himself from the regime he once served.
Nguema enters the race with the significant advantage of incumbency, widespread popularity for ending Bongo’s rule, and a political system still dominated by his loyalists across the senate, national assembly, and constitutional court.
He has positioned himself as a nation-builder, vowing to help Gabon “rise from the ashes” and tackle decades of inequality. For many citizens in this oil-rich yet impoverished nation of 2.5 million, his message resonates.
Under the Bongo dynasty, Gabon’s vast oil wealth enriched a small elite while most of the population remained in poverty. Ali Bongo’s contested re-election in 2016 sparked violent protests, and his 2023 victory declaration—widely viewed as fraudulent—was swiftly overturned by Nguema’s military takeover.
Since the coup, Gabon’s economy has shown modest improvement, growing 2.9% in 2024 from 2.4% the previous year, driven by infrastructure investment and rising production of oil, manganese, and timber, according to the World Bank. Still, the country remains heavily dependent on oil, and Nguema, like his predecessor, has pledged to diversify the economy with a focus on agriculture, industry, and tourism.
Many Gabonese hope this election will be more than symbolic.
“We want real change, not just a new face,” said civil society activist Pépecy Ogouliguendé. “We hope this vote leads to more transparency, better education, healthcare, and infrastructure.”
Polling stations will open at 8 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and close at 6 p.m., with results expected later in the evening.