Nguema predicts victory
2009-11-23 13:45
Malabo - Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema vowed Sunday that he would win the presidential election set for November 29 by a landslide, holding on to three decades in power.
"We are going to win with more than 97% of the vote," Obiang Nguema told a rally of 4 000 supporters in the capital of Malabo.
"I am not a new candidate, I am the candidate of the people and I do not see anyone who can go against the wishes of the people," he added.
In the last presidential poll in December 2002, more than 215 000 voters were registered. The election was won by Obiang Nguema with 97.1% of the votes, beating four other candidates, according to official results.
Campaigning for the forthcoming vote began on November 5. Opposition parties argue that not enough time had been given to allow for a fair election.
Multiparty politics
Four other candidates are standing against 67-year-old Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the former Spanish colony since 1979, and some 290 000 people have registered to vote.
In 1987, Obiang Nguema created the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), which dominates the political apparatus and leads a coalition of nine parties among the 13 that are legally recognised.
Since multiparty politics were introduced in 1991, the PDGE has easily won all elections.
In May 2008, the PDGE and its allies won virtually all the seats in local and parliamentary elections.
Equatorial Guinea is Africa's third-biggest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola following the discovery of large offshore oil deposits in the early 1990s.
- SAPA
