Equatorial guinea presidential election

General elections were held in Equatorial Guinea on 20 November 2022 to elect the President and members of Parliament, alongside local elections. Originally the parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2022 and presidential elections for 2023. However, in September 2022 Parliament approved a proposal to merge the elections due to economic constraints. The government announced on 26 November 2022 that Obiang had won the election by an overwhelming margin, as expected. It stated that provisional results showed him with 97% of the vote on a turnout of 98%. The elections were considered a sham by international observers.

Background

After becoming independent from Spain in 1968, Equatorial Guinea was ruled by President for lifeFrancisco Macías Nguema until he was overthrown in a coup in 1979 by his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has served as the country's president since. Both have widely been characterised as corrupt dictators.

Equatorial Guinea's government is authoritarian and has one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the "worst of the worst" in Freedom House's annual survey of political and civil rights.Reporters Without Borders ranks President Obiang among its "predators" of press freedom.

Political opposition, though nominally allowed alongside a nominal multi-party system, is effectively nonexistent, with President Obiang loyalists holding a supermajority of seats in the legislature since his installation as leader, and Obiang has regularly "won" elections with over 90% of the vote. No election has been described as free or fair in the country. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International among other non-governmental organizations have documented severe human rights abuses including illegal detention, with prisoners subjected to tactics including torture

Nov. 20, 2022Held

Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Election for Equatorial Guinean Presidency

Results

Voter Participation

Vote Share by Candidate:

General Information

Preliminary election results released by Equatorial Guinea’s government on Monday showed the ruling party winning over 99 percent of votes counted so far in presidential, legislative, and municipal elections held on Sunday, November 20.

The tiny oil-producing Central African state is run by 80-year-old President Teodoro Obiang, the world’s longest-ruling head of state, who is seeking to extend his 43 years in office.

Equatorial Guinea has had only two presidents since independence from Spain in 1968; Obiang and his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema, who he removed in a coup in 1979.

This time, two opposition candidates are standing in the way of a sixth term for the president: Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu, who has run in the previous five elections, and Andrés Esono Ondo, who is running for the first time.

Early partial results showed Obiang’s ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) and coalition with 67,012 votes out of 67,196 counted so far. The count will continue on Monday, said a statement on the government website.

More than 400,000 people registered to vote in the country of about 1.5 million, which is split between the island of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea and a coastal mainland sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon.

Equatorial Guinea elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the people. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was re-elected unopposed on 15 December 2002. The Chamber of People's Representatives (Cámara de Representantes del Pueblo) has 100 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies.

Equatorial Guinea is a dominant-party state. This means that only one political party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), is de facto allowed to hold effective power. Although minor parties are de jure allowed to rule, they are de facto required to accept the leadership of the dominant party.

Latest elections

Main article: 2016 Equatorial Guinean presidential election

The government announced on 28 April 2016 that Obiang had won the election by an overwhelming margin, as expected. Provisional results showed him with 93.7% of the vote on a turnout of 92.9%. He was sworn in for another term at a ceremony in Malabo on 20 May 2016.

Parliamentary elections

Main article: 2017 Equatorial Guinean legislative election

Chamber of Deputies