Congo Republic President Sassou re-elected

Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso has been re-elected with more than 88% of the vote, official results showed on Tuesday, extending his 36-year-old leadership of the Central African oil producer despite a prolonged economic crisis.

His closest rival, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, who died hours after the polls closed, received less than 8%. Kolelas was being evacuated to France to be treated for Covid-19 when he died.

77-year-old Sassou is a former paratrooper who took power in 1979. He lost Congo’s first multi-party elections in 1992, but returned to office in 1997 after a civil war.

He changed the constitution in 2015 to extend term limits that would have barred him from standing for re-election the following year.

Edited by Olajumoke Adeleke