Gabon鈥檚 Brice Oligui Nguema won 94.85 per cent of the vote, according to final results released on Friday, confirming the junta chief鈥檚 landslide election as the central African country鈥檚 president.
That result marks a five-per cent increase on his score in the provisional results given the day after the April 12 ballot, the country鈥檚 first since Oligui ended more than five decades of Bongo dynasty rule in his August 2023 coup.
Oligui, who temporarily hung up his general鈥檚 uniform to stand for office, was elected president in a single round with 588,074 ballots, according to the electoral commission鈥檚 final results.
His main rival Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, the last prime minister under ousted leader Ali Bongo Ondimba, likewise saw an increase in his vote share, coming second with 3.11 per cent compared to his provisional 3.02 per cent score.
None of the six other candidates broke the one-per cent barrier.
Turnout stood at 70.11 per cent in an election marking Gabon鈥檚 return to constitutional normality and civilian rule after 19 months under Oligui鈥檚 military leadership.
No appeal against the election鈥檚 fairness and conduct had been lodged within the deadline, the electoral commission added.
While he chose not to appeal against the outcome of the vote, the day after the provisional results鈥� release Bilie By Nze slammed a 鈥渧ictory snatched away in opaque and contestable conditions鈥� and a lack of equity in the campaign period.
Neither patriarch Omar Bongo, who ruled from 1967 to 2009, nor his son Ali Bongo, ever obtained vote shares as large as that scooped by Oligui, besides the three elections in 1973, 1979 and 1986 where Bongo senior was the sole candidate.
Oligui, who will on Saturday attend the funeral of Pope Francis, is set to be sworn in on May 3 in the Gabonese capital Libreville, according to the presidency.
