Gabon’s Constitutional Court has approved eight candidates to run in next month’s presidential election, paving the way for interim leader Brice Oligui Nguema to legitimize his rule through the ballot box.
Nguema, 50, took power in a 2023 coup that ousted longtime President Ali Bongo and ended decades of dynastic leadership in the oil-rich Central African country.
Despite global norms that typically bar transitional leaders from contesting elections, a newly adopted constitution—approved by voters in a landslide referendum last November—grants Nguema an exemption. The change has sparked criticism from opposition figures and analysts who argue it undermines the promise of a return to democratic governance.
Nguema’s most prominent challenger is expected to be Alain Claude Billie By Nze, 57, who served as prime minister under Bongo and is running as an independent. The candidate list, published Friday by the court, also includes Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui, a former member of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party who now leads a new political movement dubbed the “large rainbow gathering.”
Others cleared to run include Joseph Lapensee Essigone, a career tax inspector, and entrepreneur Gninga Chaning Zenaba, the only female candidate in the race. The court’s decision comes as Gabon prepares for its next chapter following a turbulent period marked by the 2023 coup—one of several military takeovers in West and Central Africa between 2020 and 2023.
The presidential election is scheduled for April 12.
