Low voter turnout likely to extend President’s rule

Polling stations in the Republic of Congo closed yesterday following a day of voting in elections that are widely expected to ‌extend incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso's decades-long rule. The 82-year-old faced off against a weak field of challengers with two of the country’s best‑known opposition leaders in prison and several parties boycotting the vote, reports africanews. Six candidates are standing against Sassou Nguesso but the main opposition is divided and largely absent, leaving him set to win another five-year term. Observers say voter turnout could reach a record low, largely reflecting the lack of suspense over the poll's outcome. Two opposition figures who featured in the 2016 election campaign, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, are both behind bars, 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. But critics say the country's growth has been sapped by massive amounts of state oil revenue siphoned into the bank accounts of senior administration 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. Sassou Nguesso first led Congo-Brazzaville under a one-party system from 1979 to 1992 before losing the first multi-party elections. He 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.

Full africanews report