Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who holds the world record for longevity in power for a living head of state other than a monarch, was sworn in Thursday for a sixth seven-year term.
He was re-elected with 94.9% of the vote on November 20, at the age of 80, to head this small oil-rich central African country, which he has ruled with an iron fist for more than 43 years.
The inauguration ceremony took place in Malabo in front of many guests including his counterparts from Congo, Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic, reported a journalist on site.
“I am not the president of a tribal or ethnic group or a particular belief, I was elected by all the people of Equatorial Guinea (…), I am and will always be the president of all Equatoguineans”, he launched from a large podium on the seafront, after his oath before the judges of the Constitutional Court and parliamentarians of the National Assembly and Senate, in which his party won all the seats during the election of November 20.
Then the head of state and his counterparts watched the parade of more than 5,000 military and police, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Defense.
As in the previous five elections, Obiang was re-elected with more than 90% of the vote, this time against a candidate from the only opposition party not banned and another from a movement previously allied with the president’s party.
The third largest oil producer and third richest country in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of GDP per capita in 2021, according to the World Bank, most of Equatorial Guinea’s wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few.
The Bretton Woods institution does not have recent data on the country, but it estimated in 2006, when the oil bonanza was in full swing, that nearly 80% of the population lived below the poverty line (less than $1.9 per day per capita).