E.Guinea ruler seeks re-election against weakened opposition

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo faces two opponents as he runs for a sixth term on Sunday, but critics see little hope for change in a country with next to no opposition.

Obiang has been in power for more than 43 years -- the longest tenure of any living head of state today except for monarchs.

His re-election seems certain in one of the most authoritarian and enclosed states in the world.

In the run-up to the Sunday's vote, pictures of Obiang and his Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), the country's only legal political movement until 1991, have been splashed all over the capital Malabo.

Running against him is Andres Esono Ondo, 61, from the country's only tolerated opposition party.

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The secretary general of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) is a candidate for the first time and the sole representative of the muzzled opposition.

Ondo has said he fears "fraud" during the ballot, during which voters are to elect a president as well as members of parliament.

Malabo has levelled its own accusations against the politician, in 2019 accusing him of planning "a coup in Equatorial Guinea with foreign funding".

He was detained for 13 days in Chad that year as he hoped to attend a congress of the Chadian opposition.

The third candidate is Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu of the Social Democratic Coalition Party (PCSD), a historic ally of Obiang's ruling party.

The former minister is running for the fourth time, but has never done well in previous elections.

The opposition accuse him of being a "dummy candidate" without a chance.

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'Sham'

As in every election year, security forces have stepped up arrests in recent weeks.

State media has justified the crackdown as a bid to counter a "foiled plot" by the opposition to carry out attacks on embassies, petrol stations and the homes of ministers.

In September, after a siege lasting more than a week, security forces stormed the home of one of Obiang's main opponents, Gabriel Nse Obiang Obono.

His house had also served as an office for his banned Citizens for Innovation (CI) party.

The assault left five dead -- four activists and a policeman, according to Malabo.

Dozens were injured and more than 150 people were arrested, including Obono.

Leading rights activist Joaquin Elo Ayeto told AFP the incident had "discredited" the electoral process.

"The ruling party needs an 'opposition' to hold sham elections," he said.

Allegations of fraud have plagued past polls.

In 2016, Obiang was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote.

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His PDGE won 99 of the 100 seats in the lower house, and all 70 seats in the senate.

In 2009, the president scored more than 95 percent of the vote.

Members of the opposition, most of whom are in exile, hold no hope for a breakthrough on Sunday.

"Obiang's elections have never been free or democratic, but marked by widespread and systematic... fraud," they have said in a joint statement.

Despite all being obliged to vote, they urged "all citizens of Equatorial Guinea not to take part in any phase of the electoral process".

Source: AFP