Will President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in power since 1979, run for another term or will he let his son Teodorin succeed him?
Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday brought forward its presidential election by five months to November 20, at the same time as the legislative elections in this Central African country led for 43 years by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
“The presidential, Chamber of Deputies, Senate and municipal elections are called for November 20, 2022,” according to a decree issued by the head of state and read out on the evening news on state television.
Obiang holds the world record for longevity in power among living heads of state, excluding monarchies.
The only issue at stake will be the nomination of the candidate of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), which holds 99 of the 100 seats in the outgoing lower house and all 70 seats in the Senate, before the election. Will Mr. Obiang, 80, run for another term or will he let his son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, nicknamed Teodorin, succeed him?
Teodorin, the all-powerful and feared vice-president in charge of defense, a public jet-setter who was sentenced in 2021 to a three-year suspended prison term in France as part of the so-called “ill-gotten gains” scandal, has long been considered his father’s successor and has been omnipresent on the political scene for the past two years.