Trending 
Observers have reported low voter turnout at the Congo-Brazaville Presidential Election, held on Sunday.
Sunday’s election saw 6 candidates challenging the country’s 82-year-old President, Denis Sassou Nguesso, who is seeking a fourth term.
Two of the country’s notable opposition leaders are behind bars, and several parties are reportedly boycotting the election. On Friday, which marked the last day of the election campaign, thousands rallied in support of Sassou Nguesso.
Africa News reported that at one polling station in the Ouenze district of the capital, Brazzaville, only a handful of ballots lay in the box at 9:00 am local time. Meanwhile, several other stations had not received all their election materials by 7:00 am, when the polls were due to open.
One voter, Georgine, who admitted to working for the ruling Congolese Workers’ Party (PCT), expressed support for Sassou Nguesso.
“It’s normal for a citizen to go vote who thinks, ‘I chose President Denis Sassou Nguesso, he’s the one who will bring peace’,” said Georgine.
After casting his vote on Sunday, the 82-year-old president said he remained hopeful that the promise of victory heard during the campaign “will come to fruition today”.
“So I say to the people that if we are elected, the [development] project we presented will be implemented, and we hope that the people will rise up and stand with us,” he said.
Sassou Nguesso’s administration is alleged to stifle opposition. Two candidates who contested against the 82-year-old President in 2016, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, are both behind bars, jailed for 20 years for supposedly being a “threat to internal security”.
If he wins this election, the country’s constitution forbids him from contesting for another term in 2031.
Sassou Nguesso first led Congo-Brazzaville under a one-party system from 1979 to 1992, before losing the first multi-party elections, which he then overthrew in a civil war in 1997. He was re-elected in 2002, 2009, 2016, and 2021.
