LIBREVILLE, Gabon — Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Gabon's interim president who staged a 2023 coup that ended a decadeslong political dynasty, has been elected president, according to provisional results announced by the country's interior ministry.
Oligui Nguema, 50, recorded a landslide victory with 90.35% of votes cast, defeating seven other candidates, including immediate past Prime Minister Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze. He came in a distant second with 3% of votes cast, Interior Minister Hermann Immongault said as he announced the provisional results.
The Interior Ministry announced a turnout of 87.21% in the election in which some 920,000 voters, including over 28,000 overseas, were registered to participate across more than 3,000 polling stations.
It's Gabon's first election since the 2023 military coup that ended a political dynasty that lasted over 50 years. It was seen as a crucial election for the central African nation's 2.3 million people, a third of whom live in poverty despite its vast oil wealth.
Bilie-By-Nze recently told The Associated Press that Oligui Nguema took advantage of state resources to support his campaign. The government denies this.
Local observers deemed the conduct of the election satisfactory in nearly all the polling stations monitored.
At least 94.8% of the polling stations observed operated under satisfactory conditions, while the transparency of operations was deemed satisfactory in 98.6% of cases, the Gabonese Civil Society Organizations Observation Mission said late Saturday.
Oligui Nguema, who has been serving as interim president, had his representatives present in 69.6% of the polling stations observed while Bilie-By-Nze's representation stood at just 8.2%, the observers said.
