By Abiola Olawale
A national election has officially opened across Gabon on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 7 a.m. local time, marking the country’s first presidential election since a military coup in August 2023 ended the Bongo family’s 56-year dynastic rule.
About 920,200 registered voters are casting ballots at 3,037 polling stations to choose among eight candidates vying for a seven-year term under a new constitution.
The frontrunner, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, led the 2023 coup that ousted Ali Bongo Ondimba, as President, citing years of mismanagement.
Running under the “Rally of Builders” platform, Nguema has campaigned on modernizing infrastructure, fighting corruption, and boosting economic sovereignty.
His main challenger, Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze, 57, a former prime minister under Bongo, heads the “Together for Gabon” movement.
Bilie-By-Nze had pledged to reorganize public finances, create youth jobs, and reduce ties with former colonial power France.
Other candidates include Zenaba Gninga Chaning, the only woman, advocating population growth and traditional practices like polygamy; businessmen Axel Stophene Ibinga Ibinga and Thierry Yvon Michel Ngoma, both 2023 contenders; Stéphane Germain Iloko, a former Bongo party executive; Joseph Lapensée Essigone, a lawyer and tax inspector.
The new electoral code, adopted in January, controversially allows military candidates, enabling Nguema’s run.
A November 2024 referendum set a two-term limit, abolished the prime minister’s role, and mandated Gabonese parentage or spousal ties for candidates.
