The Recalibrated Presidency of Brice Oligui Nguema

In April 2025, Brice Ologui Nguema was formally elected as president of the Gabonese Republic. Two years on from the coup d’état that overthrew the Bongo dynasty in August 2023, is Nguema’s presidency a genuine political overhaul or more of the same?

On the evening of 30 August 2023, Ali Bongo, Gabon’s outgoing president and former presidential candidate in the 26 August 2023 general election, was deposed and placed under house arrest by the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (Comité pour la Transition et la Restauration des Institutions; CTRI) following the release of seemingly fraudulent results by the elections council. The fall of Ali Bongo marked a seminal turning point in Gabon’s history—ending a long dynastic reign by father and son.

President Brice Oligui Nguema has since swooped in as the country’s new strongman, vowing to rehabilitate the dignity of the Gabonese people and restore the institutional integrity of the Republic, perceived by most as having been undermined by the authoritarian tendencies of the former regime. The Gabonese—hostile to the ideology of the formerly dominant Gabonese Democratic Party (Parti Démocratique Gabonais; PDG)—had accordingly called for its dissolution en masse. But while the final report from the Inclusive National Dialogue of April 2024 recommended its immediate suspension and the ineligibility of its cadres for post-transition elections, Nguema balks. Instead, Nguema appears to be working to re-legitimize the party by appointing several executives from the fallen regime to important positions in the politico-administrative apparatus. This policy, contrasting a priori with the aspirations of many Gabonese, is nevertheless part of the new president’s agenda and policy of inclusion that he has been advocating for since taking power. But his proximity to the former regime raises questions. Is Nguema’s presidency really a political break or is it rather a restyled continuation of the Bongos?