Yearbook 2008
Equatorial Guinea. According to
Countryaah reports, Parliamentary elections were held in
May, a year earlier than planned, to be coordinated with
local elections for cost reasons. The ruling party Partido
Democrático de Guinea Ecuatorial (PDGE, Equatorial Guinea's
Democratic Party) received 99 of Parliament's 100 seats, an
increase with a mandate. PDGE has won all the elections and
has always been accused of extensive cheating and scare
tactics.
Authoritarian President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and
his family have all the power in their hands but often mark
distance from the government to blame all the mistakes on
the ministers. So did this year, too, when the president in
July dismissed the "country's worst" government so far.
Ignacio Milam Tang was appointed new Prime Minister, who
held several ministerial posts but was not considered able
to exert any significant influence.
British mercenary Simon Mann was sentenced in July to
prison for 34 years and 4 months for participation in a coup
attempt in 2004. He was extradited from Zimbabwe at the
beginning of the year, where he was convicted of attempting
to buy weapons without a license. During the trial, Mann
pointed out Mark Thatcher, the son of Britain's former prime
minister Margaret Thatcher, as a key figure in the coup
attempt. He also claimed that, among other things, the
United States would have supported the coups since US oil
companies, which dominate oil recovery in Equatorial Guinea,
expressed concern that the regime was not stable.
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