Equatorial Guinea votes: Africa’s most ruthless ruler wants to stay in office North Korea reveals photos of daughter Kim for the first time

In Central African Equatorial Guinea, citizens elect a president and parliament on Sunday. Longtime ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is seeking a sixth seven-year term in office. The 80-year-old came to power in a coup in 1979 and is regarded as one of the continent’s longest, most ruthless and most corrupt rulers. He is up against the two social democrats, Andrès Esono Ondo and Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu.

Obiang is expected to win again. Although the autocrat regularly ran for office, the result was almost always the same: he was always confirmed with more than 90 percent of the vote. The ruling party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), currently holds an absolute majority with 99 of the 100 seats in the National Assembly and all 55 seats in the Senate.

The small country on the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa is rich in oil and natural gas. However, according to a report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the revenues are used to fund a lavish lifestyle of a small elite around the president. Mismanagement of public funds, corruption and torture, arbitrary arrests and unfair trials are the norm. According to the United Nations, the nearly 1.5 million inhabitants of Equatorial Guinea are among the poorest people in the world. (sda/dpa)