General Brice Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s military leader, has won Saturday’s presidential election, polling over 90 per cent of the votes.
Mr Nguema, who in 2023 led a coup that ended Ali Bongo’s near-60-year dynasty, was announced winner of the election on Sunday.
In a national broadcast, interior minister Hermann Immongault declared, “Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema is elected (president) by absolute majority of votes cast, with 575,222 votes.”
His major challenger, Bilie-by-Nze, polled slightly over 3 per cent of the votes.
Speaking with Al Jazeera shortly after he was declared winner of the election, Mr Nguema said, “I will give back to the people what they have given me today. And everything that has been stolen from the people, I want to return to them.”
Mr Nguema, 50, defeated seven candidates, including former Prime Minister Alain Claude Bilie-by-Nze, who served under the Bongo regime, to maintain a firm grip on power in Gabon.