Congo Brazzaville
Congo Brazzaville poll confirms incumbent President

afrol News, 11 March - Incumbent President, General Denis Sassou Nguesso, is set to win Sunday's presidential elections in Congo Brazzaville, according to preliminary results. Main opposition candidates were not participating and had called for a boycott, claiming the elections were rigged before they even started.

Yesterday's presidential elections in Congo Brazzaville were supposed to mark the troubled country's transition into democracy, following military coups, civil war and a controversial process of national reconciliation, mediated by Omar Bongo, President of neighbouring Gabon. In these terms, the elections are widely seen as a disappointment. 

The Congolese state television today cited preliminary results after one third of the ballot had been counted, showing military ruler Nguesso was set to obtain up to 80 percent of the votes. The broadcaster also informed that voters' turnout had been high (over 90 percent) in the three provinces where the results had been counted. 

This however contradicts reports from Brazzaville and other urban centres, where observers reported about a very low turnout in response to the boycott called out by the leading politician of the opposition, André Milongo, ex-President of the Parliament. 

Milongo and two other candidates on Friday pulled out of the elections, complaining about their lack of transparency and claiming they were being manipulated. Six other, less known candidates however still challenge General Nguesso. 

General Nguesso has rejected the claims by the opposition. He expects to win because of his political viewpoints, not because of the boycott by these three candidates, he holds. Nguesso has been campaigning for a reinforcement of the peace process and national reconciliation and to reconstruct the infrastructure destroyed by the brutal civil wars following the 1992 presidential elections. The General indeed has found credibility in maintaining peace, order and development in the country, where nobody wants to return to the destructions of the 1990s.

President Nguesso first took power in a military coup in 1979, ending an era of political instability, but carrying on the Marxist ideology of his predecessors. His long rule was marked by totalitarianism and corruption, but also stability and economic development based on significant oil resources. Nguesso lost the country's first multi-party elections in 1992.

These elections however again led the country into political chaos as the new President, Pascal Lissouba, found it difficult to establish his authority against the Prime Minister and General Nguesso. The power struggle erupted into civil war at various occasions. Control over the oil resources plaid an important role in the power struggle. General Nguesso re-emerged as the country's military ruler in 1997.

There were few indications General Nguesso will let the opposition beat him a second time in free and fair elections, the opposition candidates have claimed. "The regime just does not want us to take part," ex-candidate Milongo told the BBC this weekend after he had announced he was to pull out of the race. 

Sources: Press reports and afrol archives

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