News / Africa
Equatorial Guinea Goes to the Poll Sunday
Peter Clottey
April 23, 2016 11:47 AM
Citizens of Equatorial Guinea go to the polls on
Sunday to choose a new president. It is expected that long time President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo will win re-election.
Severo Moto: El líder de la oposición exiliado Severo Moto, del Partido del Progreso ha manifestado a VOA "nos han impedido participar en las elecciones del domingo Debido a que el gobierno utiliza una disposición constitucional que exige vivir en el país durante cinco años continuamente para ser elegible. Eso, dice , actual presidente Mbasogo Efectivamente tiene garantizado el voto con un amplio margen.
John Bennett: "Estas no son las elecciones para elegir a un líder, como se hacen en país de Occidente o como en los Estados Unidos en cualquier forma significativa en cuanto a la selección del líder de un país en Occidente, Estados Unidos. Esta es la re-imposición de la dictadura que existió desde finales de 1960, en concreto desde el 3 de agosto de 1979, "dijo Bennett.
Citizens of Equatorial Guinea go to the polls on
Sunday to choose a new president. It is expected that long time President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo will win re-election.
Exiled opposition leaders say Sunday’s general
election is unlikely to be free fair or transparent. President Mbasogo has
ruled Equatorial Guinea for nearly 37 years after overthrowing his uncle
Francisco Macías Nguema.
Mbasogo is currently the longest serving African
head of state and could serve another seven years in office if he wins the vote
Sunday.
In an interview with VOA, John Bennett, a former US
Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea says Sunday’s vote will not be credible.
“These are not elections in any meaningful fashion
as to selection of a country’s leader in the West, United States or virtually
anywhere else. This is the re-imposition of dictatorship that existed since the
late 1960s, specifically since August 3 1979,” said Bennett.
Human rights issues
Opposition and international civil society groups
have often accused the government in Malabo of gross human rights violations
and the use of state security agencies to harass and intimidate opponents —
accusations the government sharply denies.
Supporters of the government say Mbasogo has led
the country’s economic transformation and has ensured peace and stability
despite repeated criticisms. They also said accusations of human rights
violations are inconsistent after accusing outside groups of plotting to create
tension and seeking a regime change through violence. The supporters say it is
clear the opposition can’t win the presidential vote so they are coming up with
excuses to tarnish the credibility of the poll.
Exiled opposition leader Severo Moto, of the
Progress Party told VOA he has been prevented from participating in Sunday’s
vote because the government uses a constitutional provision that demands a
candidate lives in the country continuously for five years to be eligible.
That, he says, effectively guarantees incumbent President Mbasogo win the vote
with a wide margin.
Motto also said the president tightly controls
everything from organizing the elections, to the control of the media as well
as the entire government machinery. Supporters of the administration deny the
allegations as without merit.
No significant challenge
Ambassador Bennett says there is no credible
opposition leader to pose a significant challenge to Mbasogo in the poll.
“If there are individuals and groups who have
opposed him for many years, decades, however he has managed to neutralize them
put them in jail or otherwise discouraged them, he has co-opted many, but there
is no meaningful opposition in a sense that he would allow an opposition party
to oppose him. No,” said Bennett.
Asked why the international community has yet to
take action against the government in Malabo, despite repeated reports of human
rights violations, Bennett said “Sadly to a great extent it has been a get
along go along international community that one, needs the oil and also for
example with respect to the United States, the oil companies facilitated very
powerful very effective press campaign through professional image managers so
that he was acceptable enough to come and go as he wished.”