Congo’s Sassou Nguesso Claims 95% Victory as Critics Cite Boycott, Internet Blackout

Polling stations in parts of Brazzaville were quiet on election day. Two days later, Congo’s interior minister announced that more than 8 in 10 registered voters had cast ballots — and that President Denis Sassou Nguesso had won nearly 95% of them.

The provisional tally, read out on state television late March 17, gave the 82-year-old leader 94.82% of the vote in the March 15 presidential election. Turnout was officially 84.65% among 3.17 million registered voters.

To supporters, the figures confirm what they describe as a durable popular mandate for one of Africa’s longest-serving heads of state. To opposition parties and rights groups that either boycotted the election or were mostly sidelined from it, they illustrate how a multiparty system has been reshaped to keep the same man in power.

The vote, held under a nationwide internet shutdown and in the absence of major international observer missions, underscores how authorities in the Republic of the Congo — also known as Congo-Brazzaville — continue to organize regular elections that critics say are tightly controlled and rarely competitive.

A landslide on paper, and doubts on the ground

Interior Minister Raymond Zéphirin Mboulou said Sassou Nguesso secured 2,507,038 votes, easily defeating six lesser-known challengers. His closest rival, Mavoungou Zinga Mabio of the Alliance for Democratic Alternation, was credited with 1.48%. Four other candidates each received less than 1% of the vote.

“The candidate Denis Sassou N’Guesso is declared provisionally elected president of the Republic,” Mboulou said on national television, reading from the ministry’s figures.

The Constitutional Court is expected to validate the results, a formality in past elections. The court has never overturned a presidential result during Sassou Nguesso’s tenure.

The official participation rate contrasts with what some reporters and residents said they saw in the capital. Journalists for international wire services described short or nonexistent lines at several Brazzaville polling stations on March 15, including at midday, when turnout might normally be expected to peak.

“There were very few voters,” said Christian Sondou, a carpenter in Brazzaville who said he chose not to cast a ballot. “Everything was rigged to ensure that President Denis Sassou N’Guesso continues to govern us,” he said.

Others expressed resignation. Taxi driver Jean Baptiste Mahoukou said “everyone knew he would be reelected against candidates who were no match for him.” A market vendor, Elise Sonia, said the result left little room for surprise.

“There’s no need to lament, we must be patient as he won’t be around forever,” she said. “Nature will take care of this generation that clings to power.”

Authorities have not publicly addressed the discrepancy between the turnout they reported and accounts of low traffic at some urban polling places.

Internet cut and a managed campaign

The vote took place under a nationwide internet blackout that began on election day. Mobile data and fixed-line connections were cut across the country, a measure the government has also imposed during previous presidential contests.

Officials did not give a detailed public justification for the shutdown. In past votes the government has said such steps were needed to preserve public order.

Rights groups and digital freedoms advocates say the repeated blackouts hinder independent monitoring of elections and restrict the ability of citizens and journalists to share information in real time. Business groups have also complained that the cuts disrupt commerce in the oil-producing Central African state.

The official campaign period ran from late February to March 13. Sassou Nguesso, who heads the Congolese Party of Labour, dominated public space and media coverage. His image was widely displayed on billboards and banners in Brazzaville and other cities.

Opposition candidates were given airtime on public broadcasters but reported significant constraints. Several parties and civil society organizations said they faced difficulties holding rallies or traveling outside the capital.

Two major opposition parties boycotted the vote, citing what they called “conditions that do not allow for a fair contest.” The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy, historically the main opposition force, chose not to field a candidate, as it also did in the 2021 election.

In the months before the vote, authorities arrested human rights activists and suspended some opposition organizations. In one high-profile case in May 2025, Lassy Mbouity, leader of a small socialist party and self-declared presidential hopeful, was reported kidnapped by unknown assailants; he later reappeared and went into exile. The government denied involvement.

The Human Rights Foundation, a New York-based advocacy group, had urged foreign governments to denounce Sassou Nguesso’s decision to seek another term. It described him in February as “a dictator who has held power for four decades through sham elections and brutal repression,” language the government rejected.

A presidency measured in decades

For many Congolese, the 2026 result extends a familiar pattern.

Sassou Nguesso first became head of state in 1979, leading what was then a one-party Marxist-Leninist system. He lost a multiparty election in 1992, then returned to power in 1997 after a brief but bloody civil war, backed by Angolan forces.

Since then, he has won presidential contests in 2002, 2009, 2016, 2021 and now 2026, each time amid allegations of fraud, opposition boycotts or both. International observers and rights groups have regularly questioned the fairness of the process, while authorities point to constitutional procedures they say are followed.

A key turning point came in 2015, when a constitutional referendum removed an age cap of 70 for presidential candidates and lifted a two-term limit set in 2002. Official figures said more than 92% of voters approved the changes on turnout above 70%. Opponents insisted participation was far lower and accused the government of inflating the numbers.

The new charter allowed the president to serve three five-year terms, resetting the count and clearing the way for Sassou Nguesso — then 72 — to stand again in 2016, 2021 and 2026. Counting both his earlier and current periods in office, he has been president for about 42 years, making him one of the three longest-serving leaders on the continent, alongside Cameroon’s Paul Biya and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Oil wealth and persistent poverty

The continuity in leadership has not translated into broad-based prosperity.

Home to about 6 million people, the Republic of the Congo is among sub-Saharan Africa’s more significant oil producers, with offshore and onshore fields that account for a large share of export earnings and government revenue.

Yet more than half the population lives in poverty, according to development indicators. Youth unemployment is estimated at about 40%, and the country carries a heavy public debt burden of around 94.5% of gross domestic product.

Anti-corruption advocates have long accused members of the political elite of diverting public funds and oil revenues for personal gain, allegations officials deny. In January 2026 French prosecutors charged two executives of Hemla Africa Holding, a subsidiary of Norwegian-listed PetroNor E&P, alleging they had paid $25 million in bribes to Sassou Nguesso and his relatives to secure oil deals in Congo. The president has not commented publicly on the case; the government has previously dismissed similar claims as politically motivated.

“These elections ensure that those in power keep control over the country’s vast natural resources with little accountability,” said one activist from a local transparency organization, who asked not to be named for safety reasons.

Limited external pressure

As of late March, there had been no forceful public criticism of the election from the African Union or from major partners such as France and the European Union.

Congo-Brazzaville maintains close ties with Paris and has sought financial support from multilateral lenders including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to manage its debt. Diplomats say foreign governments have generally prioritized stability and energy cooperation in dealings with Brazzaville, even as democracy ratings have declined.

Freedom House, a Washington-based group that tracks political freedoms, gives the Republic of the Congo a score of 2 out of 40 on political rights, classifying it as “not free.”

An aging leader, an uncertain transition

Sassou Nguesso began his new term at 82, raising questions among analysts and citizens about how and when a political transition will eventually occur.

Under the current constitution, the president is elected by absolute majority for a five-year term and can be re-elected twice, in theory limiting any one person to three terms under the 2015 rules. It is unclear how authorities will interpret that provision once the current mandate ends in 2031, given earlier changes that reset the count.

There is widespread speculation in Brazzaville that the president is grooming his son, Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso, a member of the National Assembly and a prominent figure in state oil and business circles, as a possible successor. The family has not confirmed any such plan.

For now, many Congolese say they see little immediate prospect of change through the ballot box. Young adults interviewed before the vote said they expected the result and did not believe their participation would alter it.

“People are tired,” said Sondou, the carpenter. “We vote, we don’t vote, nothing changes.”

In a country where nearly half the population is under 18 and elections routinely deliver near-unanimous victories for the same leader, the gap between official results and public expectations appears to be widening. The March 15 vote strengthened Sassou Nguesso’s grip on power for another five years. It left unanswered how, and on whose terms, it will one day come to an end.