Gabon breathe as presidency on the chief of the Cup

Every day, 40-year-old Landry Obame-Mezui is driving a taxi in the capital of Gabon Libreville.

But it's not just a taxi. This is a sparkling, brand new white car labeled “Taxi Gab+”.

For Mr. Obame-Mezui, this is a brilliant symbol of a promise of Gabon's youth of fatigue, transitional leader of Coup, Gen Brice Oligui Ngema, who has ruled since August 2023.

With 40% of young people without a job, Oligui NGUEMA offers over 800 new vehicles to young people through a rental scheme.

Mr Obame-Mezui used a taxi owned tax. He says, thanks to the temporary leader, he now has a greater chance of becoming an entrepreneur.

“Before August 30 (2023), things did not go as I wished, but today I have something stable that I can set goals and go far,” he says, lean on his new car.

It's no secret who the taxi driver will vote for in the presidential election – “I'll vote for the builder Oligui Nguema,” says the slogan on the roof of his car.

“The president has come up with a new way of doing things – actions before speeches,” he says, predicting a “crushing victory” of the ballot box.

Just over 19 months after the bloodless coup that ended more than five decades of government from the Bongo family, the Gabon people are about to head to the ballot boxes to choose a new head of state.

There is no secret in the capital who controls the country.

In a variety of shapes, sizes and designs, billboards and posters of campaigns at the Oligui Nguema favorite, they cover the city.

They dominate the airport, markets and neighborhoods, leaving very little space for the opposition.

“This is only for the atmosphere,” says Seons Akulatele a potential voter who believes he has more management than showing campaign posters.

With a little enthusiasm for the campaign, the 30-year-old says he will only vote from a sense of debt, because none of the eight candidates can truly transform the country.

“We just see the monotony of the previous regime,” says Mrs. Akoulatele, adding that presidential candidates are former allies of former President Ali Bongo.

Allen Claude was less, the main competitor in the ballot box, served as Prime Minister both with the late President Omar Bongo and his son Ali Bongo.

Other graduates such as Stephane Germain Iloko and Alain Simplice Boungouères were also influential members of the former PDG ruling party.

But all candidates seem to be willing to distance themselves from the old regime.

Previous competitor Oligui Ngema serves both Bongo's father and son, but now emphasizes his role in the leadership of the coup that canceled Ali Bongo.

He is fighting corruption, money laundering and the assignment of the central part of the country's transition to democracy – including the arrest of the former president's wife and the largest son and accuses them of illegally enriching they deny.

Along the path of the campaign, he is proud of the roads, hospitals and schools that are under his term of office, promising more projects if elected president.

Not everyone is convinced.

“The transition was something I loved from the beginning,” says Libreville resident Jacques Okumba.

“I appreciated what they were doing, but after a few months I realized that not everything promised during the transition was actually realized.”

After voting for a new constitution of a referendum in November 2024, many believe that the Saturday elections will signal the official end of the Bongo Dynasty.

Oligui Nguema supporters believed that this would end the work that began with its so-called “liberation coup” a year earlier, ending five decades of corruption scandals, rights violations and suspected repression.

But political analysts like Bergès Mietté say that they doubt how authentic this change is, arguing that the political transition is really valid “when there is a renewal of the political class and the governing method.”

“Looking at the current situation, there is almost no renewal of the elite, because now in power they were now part of the previous regime, be it Bongo the father or Bongo, the son,” he says.

For most Gabon, these elections are a chance to fix some of the mistakes they have suffered under the previous regime.

For the first time since 1967, the country will go to the ballot box without a Bongo or PDG party in the ticket.

Critics claim that the new constitution and the Electoral Code are designed to favor the Oligui NGUEMA because they did not prevent the former military officer from running and introducing age limits, which means that the older leaders of the opposition cannot challenge it.

But others rejected this claim, attributing any potential victory to the fact that Oligui Nguema has no strong competition.

Additional reporting from gift ufum in libreville