By Rorisang Modiba
- General Nguema won 94.85% of the vote — just over 58,000 votes — in Gabon’s April election.
- He became interim leader after ousting Ali Bongo in a 2023 coup, ending 50 years of family rule.
General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is officially Gabon’s new president after winning almost 95% of the vote in a landslide election.
General Nguema won 94.85% of the vote — just over 58,000 votes — in Gabon’s April election.
He became interim leader after ousting Ali Bongo in a 2023 coup, ending 50 years of family rule.
Nguema, 50, was sworn in at Angondjé Stadium where thousands celebrated his victory. He had already been serving as interim president after removing long-time leader Ali Bongo Ondimba from power in 2023.
The country’s Constitutional Court announced the final results, showing Nguema got 58,074 votes — a staggering 94.85% of the total.
He is widely seen as a national hero for ending the Bongo family’s half-century grip on power. Nguema once led the elite Republican Guard and is a cousin of the ousted president.
Leaders from across the continent came to witness the inauguration, including Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. The two are part of ongoing peace efforts in eastern Congo, where fighting continues between Congolese forces and rebels backed by Rwanda.
Nguema won public support by promising to clean up the government, fix public healthcare, create jobs for the youth, and build better roads.
Many citizens blame the Bongo family for using the country’s oil wealth to enrich themselves while ordinary people struggled. Even with its oil riches, one in three Gabonese people live below the poverty line.
Nguema now begins his official term with strong backing and big promises..
Pictured above: General Nguema.
Image source: @General Brice Oligui Nguema
