GNV News April 16, 2025

Presidential elections will be held in Gabon on April 12, 2025, and the supreme leader of the military, Brice Clotaire Oligie Ngema, will be90.35% (%)and was provisionally elected president. This presidential election was led by Ngema in 2023.military coupThis is the first time since the 55 years that former President Ali Bongo built with his father in this coup.long-term administrationwas coming to an end.

Mr. Ngema said the post-couppostwar constitutionHe was also involved in the drafting of the In the draft of the new constitution, the previous system of five-year terms with no limit on the number of times a person could be reelected was revised to a seven-year term with only one reelection possible. It also banned the president's family members from running for key state positions. Thesesystemis putting an end to the system that had made the Bongo family's long-term government possible.

On the other hand, the question remains as to whether the new administration can truly part ways with the previous one. In fact, Mr. Ngema said that Mr. Bongo'scousin (male)and the Republican Guard under former President Bongo.director (highest of the four administrative positions of the ritsuryo period)He had served as the Furthermore, there are aspects of Ngema's diplomatic stance that are in the vein of the previous administration. In particular, he continues to maintain a relationship with France, Gabon's former sovereigncloseThe two countries have maintained a strong relationship and have developed their diplomacy in a way that oozes continuity from the Bongo era.

Against this backdrop, we must continue to closely monitor developments in the new administration, which has set out to differentiate itself from the previous administration while at the same time maintaining continuity with its previous foreign policy. 
 
Learn more about Gabon's relationship with France → "Gabon's "special" relationship with France"

Learn more about the background of the coup → "West Africa: Why Are There So Many Coups?" 

Brice Clotaire Oligi Ngema (photo:UNclimatechange / Flickr [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0])