Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo, looks set to extend his decades-long rule in elections on Sunday, even as his advanced age and a term limit fuel speculation about who will eventually succeed him.
The 82-year-old former paratrooper first took power in the oil-rich Central African nation in a coup in 1979. He lost Congo Republic's first multi-party elections in 1992 but seized power again in 1997 after a civil war.
He has now ruled for a combined total of almost 42 years, making him Africa's third longest-serving leader, after Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and Paul Biya of Cameroon.
Sassou will face six candidates in an election with an organising commission dominated by figures appointed by the ruling Congolese Labour Party.
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A 2015 constitutional reform, adopted despite opposition protests, reset the presidential term limit and allowed Sassou to stay in power. But it also capped presidents at three five-year mandates, meaning that, barring another reform, this is his last election.
Two of the main opposition parties are boycotting the vote, saying the process lacks transparency, and several potential challengers are in prison or in exile.
"This election is a mere formality. The real stakes lie in what comes next," said Remadji Hoinathy of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies think tank.
The president himself has begun speaking more openly about eventual succession, telling young supporters at his campaign opening rally on February 28 that his generation was "laying the groundwork" for them to take over.
One potential successor is his son, Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso, who entered government as Minister of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnerships in 2021 and has since taken on a higher public profile.
Sassou has promised new infrastructure upgrades, increased investment in agriculture and economic diversification, though most ordinary Congolese have seen little improvement to date.
More than half -- 52 per cent -- of Congo's 6.1 million people live in poverty, a rate unchanged since 2021, according to the World Bank. Youth unemployment is around 42 per cent in a country where nearly half the population is under 18.
Meanwhile, French and U.S. prosecutors have launched investigations into assets held abroad by Sassou's relatives. The family has regularly denied the allegations. -Reuters
