Equatorial Guinea leader poised to extend 43 years in power - Danbury News Times

In the streets of the capital, Malabo, the 80-year-old Obiang's posters person flooded nationalist spaces successful caller weeks with the message: “Vote for the close way, ballot for continuity." Only a fistful of absorption posters could beryllium seen.

At a last run lawsuit successful Mongomo past week, the president shouted to the crowds: “Who's your papa?” He urged voters to support him successful power, informing of the risks of governmental upheaval.

“Some preach that determination should beryllium change,” Obiang said. "Then we person to spot the changes that they privation to produce. We bash not cognize if they are for the payment of the people, oregon if it is to make a catastrophic concern that tin provoke an uncontrolled concern successful the country.”

Despite its lipid and state riches, Equatorial Guinea has a melodramatic spread betwixt its privileged ruling people and overmuch of the population, which lives chiefly connected subsistence farming.

Obiang seized powerfulness successful a 1979 coup, overthrowing the country's archetypal president since independency from Spain successful 1968. For the archetypal years of his rule, Obiang headed a subject dictatorship. He past oversaw a three-year modulation to multiparty ideology that ended successful 1993.

Since then, though, the robustness of the country’s antiauthoritarian institutions has been undermined by the president’s eyebrow-raising predetermination wins: After earning 99 percent of the ballot successful 1989, erstwhile the state was inactive a one-party state, helium dipped lone marginally to 97.8 percent successful 1996, 97.1 percent successful 2002, 95.7 percent successful 2009 and 93.7% percent successful 2016.

Critics accidental Obiang has built a strategy of corruption unmatched successful Africa, forsaking an bonzer accidental to assistance his country’s radical retired of poorness erstwhile lipid deposits inflated the country’s gross home merchandise by much than 5,000 percent.

Human rights groups accidental the authorities besides has resorted to intimidation, torture and execution, going truthful acold arsenic to hunt down opponents and alleged coup-plotters successful different countries and forcibly instrumentality them to Equatorial Guinea, wherever they were sentenced to death.

Obiang's son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known arsenic Teodorin, has travel to embody the regime’s excesses, purchasing everything from logging firms to a rap statement to Michael Jackson memorabilia adjacent arsenic his begetter promoted him up the ranks to 2nd vice president and observers speculated helium was being groomed for succession.

A French tribunal past twelvemonth upheld Teodorin's condemnation for wealth laundering and embezzling millions of dollars successful nationalist money. The French tribunal handed him a three-year suspended sentence, fined him 30 cardinal euros and ordered spot successful France worthy tens of millions of euros seized.