Obiang reelected as president of Equatorial Guinea after elections

December 6, 2009 Official results from Equatorial Guinea have indicated that, the president of the country, has been reelected another term.

The election, held on November 29, saw Obiang take 95.37% of the ballot, or 260,462 votes, according to a statement released on the government website yesterday. An opponent, Placido Mico Abogo, finished a distant second, with 3.6% of the vote.

Obiang said that he was going to make human rights, education, and health reforms in his next term. Equatorial Guinea, the third largest producer of oil in Africa, has recently seen increasing levels of infant mortality and less educational enrollment.

Opposition candidates, however, have claimed that the voting was rigged; some pro-democracy groups also claimed that not enough media attention was devoted to Obiang's rivals. "In recent weeks it [the government] has stifled and harassed the country's beleaguered political opposition [...] [and] imposed serious constraints on international observers," stated the Human Rights Watch.