Junta leader Nguema vows to rebuild Gabon after landslide vote win

By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome and Ngouda Dione

The commanding win of junta leader Brice Oligui Nguema in Gabon’s presidential election over the weekend gives him a seven-year mandate to turn the page on more than half a century of father-and-son rule by the Bongo family.

The 50-year-old – who ousted President Ali Bongo in a 2023 coup, then ran for office – will now have to deliver on pledges to diversify an oil-reliant economy and end corruption.

He will also have to show he can break with the administrations he once backed – for all the talk of a fresh start, he is a distant cousin of Ali Bongo.

“My dear compatriots, as I told you during the election campaign – and I repeat – there is no happiness without effort,” Nguema told supporters on Sunday after provisional results showed him with 90.35% of votes cast.

“Tomorrow (Monday) is a workday… Our country is under construction,”