Gabon junta chief to face 7 challengers in presidential vote
Gabon's military leader Brice Oligui Nguema will face seven challengers in elections set for 12 April in the West African country, state television said Friday.
Picture: Pixabay.com
LIBREVILLE - Gabon's military leader Brice Oligui Nguema will face seven challengers in elections set for 12 April in the West African country, state television said Friday.
The accepted rivals, up from three announced earlier this month, include former prime minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, the last under ousted ex-president Ali Bongo Ondimba.
He is considered the strongest opponent to Oligui, who led the August 2023 military coup that ended 55 years of Bongo family rule.
Oligui, who announced on 3 March that he would run for president, has pledged to hand the reins of power in the oil-rich nation back to civilians.
Lawyer and tax inspector Joseph Lapensee Essingone and doctor Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui were also among the first three initially deemed admissible by the authorities.
But four others who contested their exclusion before the country's constitutional court saw their candidacies accepted, including Zenaba Gninga Chaning, the only woman who will challenge Oligui.
Campaigning is scheduled to begin on 29 March.
No date for a potential second round in the event of a run-off was specified in a decree setting out the electoral timetable.