Thursday, April 28, 2016

Equatorial Guinea: Nguema wins polls by over 99% of votes to extend 37 year rule

[Dibie Ike Michael with AGENCY] Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema is set for another seven years in office, extending his over three decades rule of the country.

Partial results released so far from the presidential election boycotted by most of the opposition, indicates that Nguema got 99.2 percent of the vote to enter his sixth term in office.

The world’s longest serving president triumphed over six other candidates, winning all but 326 of the 40,926 votes counted, according to a government-run website.

I am the candidate of the people. Whoever does not vote for me is rejecting peace and opting for disorder.

“I am the candidate of the people. Whoever does not vote for me is rejecting peace and opting for disorder,” Obiang said at a rally in the capital, Malabo, according to Bloomberg News.

“Many say that they are tired of seeing me, it’s been 36 years already. True, but I’ve dedicated my life to this country,” he said

The country’s opposition leaders and international civil society groups have already dismissed Sunday’s vote as “not credible.”

Obiang who has been accused of embezzling much of his country’s oil wealth during his years in office has never received less than 97 percent of the vote in an election, Independent news reports.

Some key countries have chosen to remain quiet about the vote.

Obiang, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea for nearly 37 years after overthrowing his uncle in a coup, is accused of presiding over one of the world’s most corrupt and repressive governments.

Ajazera reports that critics have accused him of failing to distribute the country’s oil wealth to the population of about 700,000.

According to the poor living in the slums, the country’s resources go only to a few people.

They allege it is going to Obiang’s family and the inner circle of the government.

According to the United Nations 2014 Human Development Report, the country has the highest per capita gross domestic product of any African country – about $37,000.

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