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Equatorial Guinea

Monthly Event Reports

January 2023 | Dissident dies in prison while his alleged kidnappers are under investigation

Julio Obama Mefuman, a prominent political dissident and dual national of Spain and Equatorial Guinea, died in prison in January. His cause of death was not immediately known. He had been kidnapped from South Sudan in 2020 by agents of the Equatorial Guinea government who alleged that he had participated in a coup attempt. A week before Mefuman died, it was reported that a high court in Spain (the Audiencia Nacional) had opened an investigation into three senior security officials in Equatorial Guinea who are alleged to have led the kidnapping and torture of Mefuman and an associate (who is also a Spanish citizen). One of the individuals under investigation is Carmelo Ovono Obiang, a son of President Obiang. 

Rule Of Law (0)

November 2022 | Africa’s longest-serving president wins election to extend 43-year tenure

Equatorial Guinea is a consolidated authoritarian regime, so it was not a surprise that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was declared the winner of the presidential election on 20 November. Already in power for 43 years, the 80-year-old was elected to a seven-year term. The official results awarded him 94.5 per cent of the valid votes, with 43 per cent of the voting age population participating in the election. He has never received less than 93 per cent of the votes for the president. His political party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) also won all 100 seats in the lower chamber of the legislature and all 55 seats in the upper chamber. The leader of the only legal opposition party (Andrés Esono Ondo of the Convergence for Social Democracy) denounced the election as fraudulent. However, the African Union electoral observation mission stated that “the general elections were in accordance with international standards and the national legal framework governing those elections.”

September 2022 | World’s longest-serving president moves to extend his time in office

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been the president of Equatorial Guinea since seizing power in a coup d’état in 1979. His political party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), announced in September that he will run again in the election that will take place in November. Equatorial Guinea has been a dominant party state for decades, as the PDGE and the president’s inner circle control the most important offices of the state, and all but one of the seats in the bicameral legislature. In the last election in 2016, Obiang was said to have received more than 90 per cent of the votes.

Explore past monthly event reports

GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
1 449 890
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama Asue (since 2016)
Head of government party
Democratic Party
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
List Proportional Representation
Women in lower or single chamber
22.0%
Women in upper chamber
16.7%
Last legislative election
2022
Head of state
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (plurality)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
13/05/2019
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
91.40%
Population Tooltip
1 449 890
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama Asue (since 2016)
Head of government party
Democratic Party
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
List Proportional Representation
Women in lower or single chamber
22.0%
Women in upper chamber
16.7%
Last legislative election
2022
Head of state
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (plurality)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
13/05/2019
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
91.40%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
State Party
in
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

Representation neutral Representation
Sep 2023
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rights
Sep 2023
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rule of law
Sep 2023
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Participation
Sep 2023
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb 2024

Global State of Democracy Indices

Hover over the trend lines to see the exact data points across the years

Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

Use the slider below to see how democratic performance has changed over time

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