AFP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
The world’s longest-serving president will stay in office even longer. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 80, ruled Equatorial Guinea for 43 years and, according to official results, won another resounding electoral victory with almost 95% of the vote.
Obiang seized power from his uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, in a 1979 coup. Since then he has always come out with large numbers in elections in the Central African country: he achieved his worst result in 2016 with ‘only’ 93.7 percent of the vote.
Little opposition
As to be expected with results like this, there are many criticisms of the lack of democracy in the country. There is almost no opposition and the press is in the hands of Obiang loyalists. During the polls, a hopeless opposition candidate complained that voters were intimidated and that fraud had been committed.
The country of about 1.4 million inhabitants became independent from Spain in 1968. Equatorial Guinea is rich in commodities such as oil and gas, but the wealth is disproportionately distributed, resulting in high levels of poverty. Obiang has already survived several coup attempts.
