The
Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea is the ruling
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km
2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million...
. It was established by President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema MbasogoTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is the President of Equatorial Guinea, having served since 1979.Born into the Esangui clan in Acoacán, Obiang joined the military during the colonial period, and attended the Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain...
as the country's sole legal political organization on 11 October 1987. The current Secretary-General is Agustín Nze Nfumu.
Despite the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, the PDGE has been the dominant party since its inception. In the 2004 parliamentary election, 98 of 100 seats were won by either PDGE members or "opposition" parties that support Obiang; in the 2008 parliamentary election, the PDGE and its allies won a total of 99 out of 100 seats.
The
Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea is the ruling
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa. With an area of 28,000 km
2 it is one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. It has a population estimated at half a million...
. It was established by President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema MbasogoTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is the President of Equatorial Guinea, having served since 1979.Born into the Esangui clan in Acoacán, Obiang joined the military during the colonial period, and attended the Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain...
as the country's sole legal political organization on 11 October 1987. The current Secretary-General is Agustín Nze Nfumu.
Despite the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, the PDGE has been the dominant party since its inception. In the 2004 parliamentary election, 98 of 100 seats were won by either PDGE members or "opposition" parties that support Obiang; in the 2008 parliamentary election, the PDGE and its allies won a total of 99 out of 100 seats. In presidential elections, Obiang typically wins 95-99% of the vote, with the opposition regularly calling for boycotts.
The party has an extremely narrow base, which is the Esangui clan of the Fang tribe, located in the
MongomoMongomo is a geographical region in Wele-Nzas Province in mainland Equatorial Guinea.From Mongomo originate the nation's first president Francisco Macías Nguema and of the current President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, hence the name the clan of Mongomo to define those belonging to his ruling...
region of
Río MuniRío Muni is the Continental Region of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering 26,000 km²....
. Since independence in 1968, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by a single family; the first president,
Francisco Macías NguemaFrancisco Macías Nguema was the first President of Equatorial Guinea, from 1968 until his overthrow in 1979.-Rise to Power:...
, was overthrown by his nephew, Obiang, in 1979. The party has been criticized for acting in a very authoritarian manner and teaming up with the government to inform on political dissidents. The party is considered by the vast majority of international observers to be corrupt.
Stances
The PDGE has little in the way of a platform or guiding ideology, aside from encouraging foreign investment in the oil sector. Some of the few other tenets of the PDGE are
militarismMilitarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and anti-separatism (which often amounts to Fang chauvinism). Although almost all the highest placed political appointments are held by former soldiers, the core military force-the army-remains somewhat underfunded in favour of naval and air-force maintenance. Government expenditures are equal to less than 10% of GDP, with military expenditures accounting for roughly 25-35% of that figure. The amount of the budget spent on schooling, healthcare and other such investments is in proximity to the military budget. The single largest expense for the party is economic drives. The constitution guarantees that the government will have a monopoly in certain industries, although much has been done to privatise these industries, in similar fashion to the way oil drilling was privatised. The party also has a minister for women, and has in recent years pursued a female empowerment agenda.
External links