Nov. 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of the United States has demanded this Thursday that Equatorial Guinea guarantee a “free and fair” vote in the face of the presidential and legislative elections that will be held on November 20 in the African country.
“On the opening day of the electoral campaign in Equatorial Guinea, the US Government asks the Equatorial Guinean Executive to comply with its international commitments and constitutional principles by supporting a free and fair vote,” said the spokesman for the US Department of State, Ned Price.
Thus, he stressed that Washington “is concerned about reports of arrests and harassment of members of the opposition and civil society.” “We ask the Government to allow its citizens to freely and confidently express their preference at the polls,” he stressed.
“Equatorial Guinea can cultivate a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic society guaranteeing the expression of diverse political perspectives, a free and fair voting process and the protection of the Human Rights of all individuals”, Price stressed.
The Parliament of Equatorial Guinea approved in September to advance the presidential elections to November, instead of in the first quarter of 2023, when they were scheduled, to make them coincide with the legislative and municipal elections.
The Equatorial Guinean president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, will seek a new mandate as head of the country, which he leads after leading a coup in 1979 that resulted in the overthrow of his uncle Francisco Macías Nguema.
Equatorial Guinea has 18 legalized political parties, although in practice there is no opposition with real options to offer an alternative to Obiang, whose political future was in doubt due to speculations that pointed to an imminent transfer of power to his son ‘Teodorín’.
