Gabonese President Ali Bongo announced his candidacy for Aug. 26 elections, seeking to extend his family’s 55-year rule of the tiny oil-rich central African nation.
(Bloomberg) — Gabonese President Ali Bongo announced his candidacy for Aug. 26 elections, seeking to extend his family’s 55-year rule of the tiny oil-rich central African nation.
Bongo made the announcement in a video posted to his official Facebook page on Sunday. He’s been in power since 2009, when he succeeded his father Omar Bongo — the longest-serving leader in Africa at the time.
“We can make Gabon a great country. A better country. A country where life is good,” Bongo, 64, said in the video.
Gabon is the second-smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. While a majority of the population of about 2 million live in poverty, the Bongo family is among the wealthiest in central Africa, according to a French government probe that resulted in the seizure of real estate assets in Paris in 2016.
In April, the parliament voted to reduce the president’s term from seven to five years. The presidential vote was also reduced to a single round, a change Bongo’s opponents said was aimed at facilitating his reelection. There are currently no constitutional term limits in Gabon.
Gabonese bond yields rose on Monday, with the rate on its 10-year debt climbing 2 basis points to 10.92% — the highest since the start of June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bongo secured a second term as president in 2016, after a disputed election that spawned protests in which at least six people died. In 2019, he survived a coup attempt while receiving medical treatment after suffering a stroke while on a trip to Saudi Arabia.
“The violent incidents and deaths that accompanied 2016 elections, the purported 2019 coup attempt, and the lack of inclusion in subsequent political reforms are all indicative of the political risks that face the country despite Bongo hegemony,” Nana Adu Ampofo, a joint managing partner at Songhai Advisory, said by email.
–With assistance from Moses Mozart Dzawu.
(Updates with bond yields rising in sixth paragraph)
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