As of April 13, 2023, Brice Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s former military leader, has won the presidential election with a staggering 90% of the total vote. His closest opponent, Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze earned only three percent of the vote, and the remaining six opponents all obtaining less than one percent 

Oligui Nguema, in addition to serving as the military leader, helped stage a coup in 2023 against the Bongo Dynasty, which occurred immediately after the 2023 election due to the opposition rejecting the results of the election.  

The Bongo dynasty held power in Gabon for 55 years until President Ali Bongo Ondimba was overthrown, in part due to the fact that the elections where he gained his position were rigged in his family’s favor. The Bongo’s made the electoral system rigged over their decade long reign by creating only one party and often claiming in the past that they had won 100% without any evidence. 

Additionally, all the wealth the Bongo’s gained, rather than being used for the people and bettering the country, was used only to maintain relationships with France and other wealthy elites. While the Bongos were wealthy from the oil and timber in Gabon and giving their resources to other countries, 40% of the country lived below the poverty line and the country itself accruing $3 billion in international debt. 

This is the first election where citizens have felt that they have control, since there has not been an election since the 2023 coup. In the two years between the coup and the election, Gabon worked under a transitional government where Oligui Nguema was chairman of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.  

The people who decided to vote for Oligui Nguema and in such strong support and numbers, with seven out of every 10 citizens voting, represent a want for change. Oligui Nguema worked with the previous dynasty as the head of the Republican Guard and ultimately overthrew it, which has created some skeptics who fear that he is too connected to the previous era and therefore does not have the capacity to change it. Some already worried about the flawed voting process where many voters could not find their polling location and some claimed that votes were not kept in a secure location. This, coming off a corrupt dynasty, may raise red flags in many citizens’ minds

“The political establishment in Gabon is still deeply intertwined with the Bongo era,” Hashem said. 

“The general himself led the Republican Guard under Ali Bongo, while his main rival in the election served as prime minister under the same regime. So people are wondering: is this a genuine break from the old system, or just a rebranding?” Al Jazeera’s reporter Ali Hashem said. 

However, after his win rather than speaking about the past, he emphasized his want to enhance the wealth and resources of the people.  

“I will give back to the people what they have given me today. And everything that has been stolen from the people, I want to return to them,” Oligui Nguema told Ali Hashem in his first international interview. 

Oligui Nguema also wants to partner with major global powers, specifically the United States, France, Russia and China. In the two years he has held a transitional position of power, Gabon has received 20 ambassadors and had new embassies open in the United Kingdom and India. 

With the ongoing economic issues, Oligui Nguema’s platform as a reformer with the slogan “We Build Together” made Gabon citizen’s hope for future improvements to come. 

“People here are focused on immediate needs: restoring electricity, addressing food shortages, creating jobs, and most importantly ensuring the country’s vast natural wealth, including oil, gold and manganese, benefits ordinary citizens,” Hashem said. 

The 2025 Gabon election marks a shift in power for the country moving forward and an official end to influence of the Bongo Dynasty.