Denis Sassou Nguesso, the 82-year-old president of Republic of Congo, is seeking another five-year term in an election on March 15, aiming to extend his more than four decades in office in \u200bthe oil-rich Central African nation.<\/p>\n
A former paratrooper, Sassou seized power in 1979 and has \u200cgoverned almost continuously since, except for a five-year hiatus in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
He faces six opposition candidates in a race he is widely expected to win. The opposition remains fragmented, with established parties boycotting the vote and some prominent potential \u200bcandidates either in prison or in exile.<\/p>\n
Following are details on his challengers:<\/p>\n
JOSEPH KIGNOUMBI KIA MBOUNGOU<\/strong><\/p>\n Joseph \u200bKignoumbi Kia Mboungou, 73, a veteran lawmaker from the southwestern Lekoumou department and leader of the political \u2060party La Cha\u00eene, is running for president for the fifth time since 2002. He earned 0.62% \u200bin the 2021 election.<\/p>\n His campaign has focused on what he describes as the need for political change \u200band economic diversification, highlighting his goals of reducing Congo’s heavy reliance on oil and tackling poverty.<\/p>\n UPHREM DAVE MAFOULA<\/strong><\/p>\n Uphrem Dave Mafoula, 43, an economist, is making his second consecutive presidential bid after running in 2021, when he was the youngest candidate and \u200bsecured 0.52% of the vote.<\/p>\n His platform centres on governance reforms, job creation and reducing territorial inequalities.<\/p>\n MELAINE \u200bDESTIN GAVET ELENGO<\/strong><\/p>\n Melaine Destin Gavet Elengo, 35, is the youngest contender in the race and a first-time presidential candidate.<\/p>\n An engineer \u200cin \u2060the oil sector, he presents himself as part of a new generation seeking political renewal. His campaign emphasizes transparency, an independent justice system and inclusive development.<\/p>\n MABIO MAVOUNGOU ZINGA<\/strong><\/p>\n Mabio Mavoungou Zinga, 69, a retired customs inspector and former member of parliament, is running under the banner of the Alliance party, a coalition of opposition \u200bgroups.<\/p>\n He has pledged to \u200btackle corruption and free \u2060jailed opposition leaders Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andr\u00e9 Okombi Salissa, who were arrested after the disputed 2016 election and later sentenced to 20 years in \u200bprison on charges of undermining state security. This is his first presidential race.<\/p>\n VIVIEN \u200bROMAIN MANANGOU<\/strong><\/p>\n Vivien \u2060Romain Manangou, 43, an independent candidate and public law university lecturer, is also making his first presidential bid.<\/p>\n His campaign has centered on institutional reforms, improving public finances and promoting national unity.<\/p>\n ANGUIOS NGANGUIA ENGAMBE<\/strong><\/p>\n Anguios Nganguia Engambe, around 60, president \u2060of the \u200bParty for Action of the Republic, is running for president \u200bfor the fourth consecutive time, having stood in 2009, 2016 and 2021, when he won just 0.18% of the vote.<\/p>\n His platform \u200bfocuses on bridging political divisions and increasing political participation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Denis Sassou Nguesso, the 82-year-old president of Republic of Congo, is seeking another five-year term in an election on March 15, aiming to extend his more than four decades in office in \u200bthe oil-rich Central African nation. A former paratrooper, Sassou seized power in 1979 and has \u200cgoverned almost continuously since, except for a five-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":25,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2362,33],"tags":[4945,426,4940,4943,4942,425,4941,4944],"class_list":["post-20138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-anguios-nganguia-engambe","tag-denis-sassou-nguesso","tag-joseph-kignoumbi-kia-mboungou","tag-mabio-mavoungou-zinga","tag-melaine-destin-gavet-elengo","tag-republic-of-congo","tag-uphrem-dave-mafoula","tag-vivien-romain-manangou"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20140,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20138\/revisions\/20140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}