Voters in Equatorial Guinea on Sunday went to the polls, with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo virtually guaranteed to win a record-breaking sixth term in the West African nation.
Obiang, who is 80 years old, has been in charge for more than 43 years, which is the longest reign of any head of state currently in office outside kings.
At an early-morning polling place set up at a school in Malabo’s Semu neighborhood, a few dozen voters had already lined up as the doors swung wide.
“Voting is going well. Everything is normal. All citizens have to vote,” fridge repair man Norberto Ondo told newsmen.
“I expect this election to bring us prosperity,” the 53-year-old added after dropping his ballot in a box at the Nuestra Senora de Bisila school.
In one of the most repressive and secretive governments in the world, Obiang’s reelection seems all but guaranteed.
Andres Esono Ondo, 61, is running against him for the only opposition party that is accepted in the country.
As the lone representative of the restrained opposition, the secretary general of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) is running for office for the first time.
Ondo has stated that he is concerned about “fraud” while electing the president, senators, and lawmakers.
The lawmaker has faced charges from the administration, which in 2019 said he was plotting “a coup in Equatorial Guinea with foreign support.”
Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu of the Social Democratic Coalition Party (PCSD), a longtime ally of Obiang’s ruling party, is the third contender.
The former minister is running for office a fourth time, although she has never performed well. His opponents have referred to him as a “dummy candidate” with no prospect of winning.
Security personnel have increased arrests, as they do every election year. The crackdown has been defended by state media as an effort to thwart an opposition plot that was “foiled” to target embassies, gas stations, and the homes of ministers.
Security officers raided the residence of Gabriel Nse Obiang Obono, one of Obiang’s top rivals, in September following a week-long siege.
Additionally, his home functioned as the headquarters for his outlawed Citizens for Innovation (CI) party. According to the administration, four protestors and one policeman died as a result of the assault.
