KIGALI, Rwanda
Gabonese voters are heading to the polls Saturday to elect a new president, the first since the 2023 bloodless military coup.
The voting opened at 7 a.m. local time (0600GM) and will close at 6 p.m. (1700GMT).
Slightly more than 900,000 voters are eligible to cast their ballots at 3,037 polling stations, according to the Interior Ministry.
Eight candidates are in the race, including a woman, Zenaba Gninga Chaning.
The two-week electioneering closed on Friday in a country of roughly 2.5 million people.
Interior Minister Hermann Immongault told reporters in the capital Libreville Friday that the vote is a “milestone in the restoration of national institutions.”
About 2,450 national and international observers, including from the Economic Community of Central African States, the African Union, the Commonwealth and the International Organization of La Francophonie, were accredited to monitor the polls.
Transitional President Brice Oligui Nguema is widely expected to win the presidential race, according to observers, while Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, the last prime minister of the ousted President Ali Bongo, is his main challenger.
The two leading candidates have pledged to diversify Gabon’s economy, through agriculture and tourism.
Gabon currently relies majorly on exports of crude oil, timber, and manganese, an essential component in making steel and batteries.
The UN chief’s special representative for Central Africa, Abdou Abarry, in a statement called for a transparent, sincere, and peaceful presidential election.
Nguema campaigned under the Rally of Builders, a platform that has received backing from several political parties and associations.
He highlighted his achievements under the transition such as fighting corruption, construction of asphalt roads, schools, and health centers at his rallies.
He has promised to consolidate the reforms undertaken during the political transition, including strengthening Gabon’s economic sovereignty, implementing public policies aimed at improving the daily lives of Gabonese people, and addressing youth unemployment.
However, Nze has projected himself as the real candidate of the transformation of the Gabonese economy and society.
He campaigned under his own movement, Together for Gabon, to distance himself from the former ruling Bongo family.
If none of the eight candidates obtains a majority — more than 50% — in Saturday’s polls, a runoff election will be held between the two top candidates.
Gabon’s new constitution adopted after last year’s referendum abolished the post of prime minister and provides for a seven-year presidential term that can be renewed once.
Nguema, 50, spearheaded a military coup in Gabon in August 2023, ousting elected President Ali Bongo and ending the so called 56-year Bongo dynasty in the oil-producing Central African nation.
