Gabon - October 2025
President’s party wins large majority in legislative elections marred by irregularities
The Democratic Union of Builders (Union démocratique des bâtisseurs, UDB), the party led by the recently elected President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, won Gabon’s legislative elections, which were held on 27 September (first round) and 11 October (second round). They were the first since the 2023 military coup that initially brought Nguema to power. The Constitutional Court declared the results for 137 of the 145 National Assembly seats on 1 November. Of these, 101 (73.7 per cent) were won by the UDB, with the former governing party, the Gabonese Democratic Party (Parti démocratique gabonais, PDG), coming in second with 17 seats (12.4 per cent) and independent candidates forming the third largest grouping with 7 seats (5.1 per cent). Irregularities, including missing ballots and falsified results, led to the annulment of results in several contests, by-elections in the affected constituencies and extensive litigation. Despite these irregularities, observers from the Economic Community of Central African States found the elections to have been ‘peaceful, free and transparent.’ Of the 856 candidates contesting the legislative elections, 139 (16.3 per cent) were women.
Sources: L'Union, Jeune Afrique, Ministère de l’Intérieur, de la Sécurité et de la Décentralisation (1), Gabon Media Time, Gabon Review, Ministère de l’Intérieur, de la Sécurité et de la Décentralisation (2)
