The country is democratic in nature, although there is no existence of Opposition parties or independent media. Only one party has been enjoying power in this country for more than four decades. After its Independence from France in 1968, Francisco Macías Nguema (January 1, 1924 – September 29, 1979) became the President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Since August 3, 1979, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (b. June 5, 1942) the former military officer, has been serving as the President of the country, situated on the west coast of Central Africa. Obiang is not only the longest-serving President of any country ever, but also the first or second-longest consecutively-serving current non-royal national leader in the world. This African nation has not yet seen any Opposition party coming to power.

President Obiang’s Democratic Party has got extraordinary success in the recently-held Presidential Elections. Hence, he has become the President yet again after ruling the country for 43 years. As per the outcome of the Elections, nearly 95% of the total valid votes went in his favour. No Head of the State has been in power for so long in the world.

According to Human Rights organisations, there is no Democracy or a strong Opposition party in Equatorial Guinea. Although some parties contest the election, they cannot throw a strong challenge to the Democratic Party of President Obiang. As all the media houses are under the control of the Government, and the State-controlled media do not report how the Government harasses the Oppositions.

Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea has an hyperactive Army and inexhaustible reserves of oil. President Obiang has suppressed several military coups to stay in power. However, the country has failed to make socio-economic progress even after the discovery of almost inexhaustible oil reserves in 1996. Hunger and poverty still exist in this African nation. Time and again, the Oppositions have blasted the ruling party for looting the natural resources of Equatorial Guinea.

However, President Obiang, like other authoritarian rulers, has rejected the allegation, stressing that the result of the recently-held elections reflects his success in running the country in a proper manner.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das