Equatorial Guinea elections in May
2013-01-23 10:20
Malabo - Equatorial Guinea has called local and legislative
elections for 26 May, its prime minister announced in a television interview
Tuesday.
The elections would be the first since 97% of voters
approved a series of constitutional reforms in a November 2011 referendum.
"Elections will be organised for May 26 and will last
one day," Clemente Engonga Nguema Onguene told leaders of political
parties in the interview.
The reforms include putting a cap on presidential terms and
creating the job of vice-president. Voters will also pick senators for the
first time.
The opposition has criticised the referendum as a sham that
would enable long-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema to handpick his
successor.
The oil-rich Central African country, led by Obiang since
1979, has been trying for a number of years to distance itself from its
international image of a dictatorship.
- SAPA
