Faith Nyasuguta
The globe’s longest-serving president has won re-election in Equatorial Guinea to continue presiding over his authoritarian regime.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 80, secured about 95% of votes, according to officials that announced six days after the vote.
“The results prove us right again,” Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the president’s son, said. “We continue to be a great party.”
A number of opposition candidates stood, but none was expected to win.
For decades, President Obiang has had a strong grip on the oil-rich central African nation, with family members in key government roles.
He grabbed power in 1979 after a military takeover and has survived several coup attempts.
On taking up office from his predecessor and uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, he made some reforms but retained Nguema’s absolute control over the nation.
Political opposition is barely tolerated and severely hampered by the lack of a free press, as all broadcast media is either owned outright by the government or controlled by its allies.
It is believed that President Obiang, who has previously denied accusations of human rights abuses and election rigging, intends to use his sixth term to clean up his international reputation.
In September, the state scrapped off the death penalty, in a move which was praised by the United Nations.
Equatorial Guinea has a history of what critics call fraudulent election results.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EQUATORIAL GUINEA
In 1968, Spanish Guinea gained independence and became the Republic of Equatorial Guinea with Francisco Macias Nguema as president.
Rights groups have labelled the country’s two presidents – Francisco Macias Nguema and Teodoro Obiang Nguema – as some of the worst rights abusers in Africa.
The Spanish, French and Portuguese-speaking country discovered vast oil reserves in 1996, but much of the 1.4 million population has not benefited from this, with poverty still rampant.
