Overview
- Polls run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time, with provisional results expected within 48 to 72 hours.
- Over 3.2 million people are registered to vote, yet analysts and civil society forecast turnout below the nearly 68% recorded in 2021.
- Sassou Nguesso, 82, faces six little-known challengers as electoral bodies are dominated by ruling party allies and several opposition parties sit out.
- Two leading opponents, Jean‑Marie Michel Mokoko and André Okombi Salissa, remain in prison, with rights groups reporting arrests of activists and party suspensions and observers noting early voting by security forces before they patrol polling sites.
- Sassou Nguesso campaigned on stability, anti‑corruption vows, and jobs in an oil‑dependent economy where the World Bank says 52% of people live in poverty.