For the first time since 1967, the elected president of Gabon does not bear the Bongo Ondimba family name. After 19 months of leading a transitional government that ended the Bongo family's 55-year reign, Brice Oligui Nguema was elected as Gabon's president for a seven-year term, on Sunday, April 13. Very popular with young voters, he had been seen as the favorite and won with 90.35% of the vote, according to provisional official results announced by the Interior Ministry. Alain Claude Billie-By-Nze (3.02%), who had been presented as Oligui Nguema's most serious rival, was unable to make voters forget he had been prime minister under Ali Bongo, the former president (from 2009 to 2023) who is now despised. None of the six other candidates' scores exceeded 1%.

The real unknown factor was the voter turnout. It reached 70.4% (out of 920,000 registered), showing that Oligui Nguema had succeeded in his first bet: uniting voters. While the contested elections of 2009 and 2016 were marked by police violence, the election on Saturday, April 12, took place in a festive spirit, without any major incidents. The phone network was maintained, as were social media platforms. For the first time, TV crews were allowed to film teams counting ballots, and, according to a new law, each polling station had to display its results.

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