People in the Republic of Congo are voting on Sunday to elect a new leader as incumbent President Dennis Sassou Nguesso runs for a fifth consecutive term.
Three million people are registered to vote in the polls which the 82-year-old is widely expected to win, extending his more than four decades in power in the oil-rich country.
Six candidates are standing against Sassou Nguesso, already one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, but the main opposition is divided and largely absent.
Two of the country’s best‑known opposition leaders are in prison, while others are in exile. Several opposition parties are boycotting the vote, saying the process lacks credibility.
Observers say voter turnout could reach a record low.
The president has toured the country during the election campaign, which ended Friday, backed by the ruling Congolese Workers’ Party (PCT), urging voters to come to the ballot box.
The second round of voting, if there needs to be one, is in theory three weeks later. The date the results of the first round will be announced has not yet been announced.
Sassou Nguesso stressed the issue of security during his final election gathering in Brazzaville on Friday, which was attended by thousands of enthusiastic supporters.
While he can claim to have brought some stability to the country, rights groups regularly denounce what they say is the persecution of opposition activists.
Opposition figures General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, who featured in the 2016 election campaign, were jailed for 20 years for supposedly being a “threat to internal security”.
During his election campaign, the president underlined his economic record, having pushed to modernise the country’s infrastructure and develop the gas and agriculture sectors in a bid to make Congo self-sufficient.
Oil and gas provide most of the state revenue, driving growth that is estimated to be 2.9 per cent for 2025. Nevertheless, more than half of the country lives below the poverty line.
The government’s critics say the country’s growth has been sapped by massive amounts of state oil revenue syphoned into the bank accounts of senior officials.
The government has already been the target of several criminal complaints and investigations, notably in France.
While Sassou Nguesso’s re-election seems assured, the constitution forbids him from running again in 2031, raising the question of a possible handover.
He has said he will not remain “in power for ever” and that the young generation would get their turn. But he would not name anyone in particular as a possible successor.
Sassou Nguesso first led Congo-Brazzaville under a one-party system from 1979 to 1992 before losing the first multi-party elections, whose winner he then overthrew in a civil war in 1997.
He was re-elected in 2002, 2009, 2016, and 2021 in votes the opposition said were neither transparent nor democratic.
The president has maintained a firm grip over the former French colony, which gained independence in 1960 and has traditionally maintained close ties with both France and Russia.
The third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, Congo-Brazzaville depends heavily on hydrocarbons, which account for more than three-quarters of export earnings.
Voting stations will open at 7:00 am local time, closing at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).
Source: Africanews.com
