The world’s longest-serving president will keep up his 43-year rule in Equatorial Guinea

 

 

Equatorial Guinea’s re-election of the world’s longest-serving leader will allow him to maintain his totalitarian rule.

Six days after the elections, authorities declared that Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 80, had received nearly 95% of the votes.

The president’s son and vice president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue said,

“The results confirm us correct again.” “We are still a terrific party,”

Several opponents ran for office, but none was predicted to prevail.

The oil-rich nation of central Africa is under the tight control of President Obiang, whose relatives hold important positions in the administration.

He seized power in 1979 after a military takeover and has survived several coup attempts.

Upon gaining 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

It is thought 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 government abolished 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 should  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 benefitted from this, with poverty still rampant.