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Gabon Approves Eight Presidential Candidates, Including Current Interim President

17:26, 22 March 2025

Ekaterina Shilova

Writer / Editor

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On August 30, 2023, a military coup in Gabon ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, shortly after he was declared the winner of a presidential election deemed fraudulent by both the army and the opposition. This ended the Bongo family's long rule over the country, with Brice Oligui Nguema subsequently appointed as the transitional head of state.

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Gabon's Constitutional Court approved eight presidential candidates, including coup leader and current interim president, Brice Oligui Nguema.

Gabon's new constitution, passed by a landslide in November, allows Nguema to run for president.

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Nguema's main challenger is expected to be Alain Claude Billie By Nze, Gabon's former prime minister, running as an independent candidate. Other approved candidates include Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui, a former member of former President Omar Bongo's party who now leads his own movement, "large rainbow gathering," and tax inspector Joseph Lapensee Essigone.