Congo-Brazzaville’s 82-year-old president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, has secured 95 percent of the vote in an election extending his decades-long rule, the constitutional court said late Saturday.
The March 15 poll grants Sassou Nguesso, who has led the oil-rich Central African nation for much of the past four decades, a new five-year term.
“Denis Sassou Nguesso won an absolute majority and is elected president with 94.9 percent of votes on a turnout of 65.9 percent,” the head of the court, Auguste Iloki, said during a public hearing.
The opposition has contested every election won by Sassou Nguesso.
One of six challengers, Dave Mafoula, formally requested the vote be declared null and void, but the court rejected the appeal.
Sassou Nguesso first came to power under a one-party system in 1979, ruling until 1992, when he lost the country’s first multi-party elections. He returned to power in 1997 after overthrowing the elected president during a civil war.
Since 2002, he has been re-elected five times in votes the opposition says lacked transparency and credibility.
A former paratrooper colonel, he is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, alongside Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and Paul Biya.
While his government is credited with bringing relative stability, rights groups have repeatedly accused it of targeting opposition activists.
Two challengers from the 2016 election are currently serving 20-year prison sentences after being convicted of threatening internal security.
Under the constitution, Sassou Nguesso will be barred from running again in 2031, when his current term ends.
AFP
