Gabon accepts an ex-prime minister and coup leader as presidential contenders

Eight candidates have been permitted by Gabon’s Constitutional Court to compete in the country’s presidential election next month. Among them is interim President Brice Oligui Nguema, who took over in a military coup in 2023.

The opposition and analysts’ fears that the junta might try to hold onto power were heightened in November when Gabon passed a new constitution by a landslide that exempted Nguema, despite the fact that transitional leaders are typically not permitted to run for office.

The constitutional referendum, according to the junta, would be a first step toward democratic governance.

In the seventh coup in West and Central Africa between 2020 and 2023, 50-year-old Nguema overthrew the long-standing dictatorship of his predecessor Ali Bongo and his family over the oil-rich but poor country.

Nze, 57, is running as an independent and is predicted to be Nguema’s primary opponent, Alain Claude Billie By Nze, Bongo’s former prime minister.

Tax inspector Joseph Lapensee Essigone and Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui, a former member of Bongo’s Gabonese Democratic Party who founded his own movement known as the “large rainbow gathering,” are among the other candidates the court approved on Friday.

The sole female competitor is Gninga Chaning Zenaba, a Gabonese businesswoman.

The date of the election is set for April 12.