Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his son Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue have clinched re-election with 95% of the November 20 polls, extending his 43-year rule and cementing his place as the world’s longest-serving ruler.
Obiang’s ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) won all 55 senate and 100 parliament seats.
“The definitive results prove us right again,” the vice president tweeted. “We continue to prove to be a great political party!”
With this landslide victory, the president will go on to appoint the remaining 15 senate seats, his son said.
The West African country with about 1.5 million people has had only two presidents since independence from Spain in 1968. Obiang ousted his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema in a coup in 1979.
Obiang has always won with over 90% of the vote in polls that international observers have questioned. Pundits say Obiang has rigged elections and done little to take the country out of poverty in spite of its wealth in oil and gas.
With protests mostly forbidden, media heavily controlled, and political opponents are often arrested and tortured, civil liberties organisations accuse him of suppressing dissent and opposition.
