President off to Equatorial Guinea, Angola

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa last night left the country for Equatorial Guinea to join other Heads of State and Government attending the official inauguration of Cde Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who swept to victory during last month’s harmonised plebiscite.

After attending Cde Mbasogo’s inauguration, President Mnangangwa will tomorrow travel to Luanda, Angola, to attend the Organisation of African Pacific Caribbean ( OACP) Summit, whose focus among other things is to spearhead development among member states.

President Mbasogo, who represented the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, garnered 405 910 votes that translate to 97 percent of the total votes cast.

He whitewashed rivals Mr Andres Esono Ondo of Convergence for Social Democracy who managed 2.31 percent of the total votes and Mr Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu of Party for Social Democratic Coalition who managed 0.68 percent.

The harmonised elections were held to elect the president and members of parliament, alongside local government elections. Originally the parliamentary elections had been scheduled for November 2022 and presidential elections for 2023. However, in September 2022 the Equatorial Guinea parliament approved a proposal to merge the elections.