The Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (, abbreviated PDGE) is the ruling political party in Equatorial Guinea. It was established by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on 11 October 1987.
Prior to 1991, the PDGE was the sole legal political organization in the country. Still, the PDGE has been the dominant party since its inception, and it typically wins almost all seats in the Parliament. In the 2004 legislative election, 98 of 100 seats were won by either PDGE members or "opposition" parties that support Obiang; in the 2008 legislative election, the PDGE and its allies won a total of 99 out of 100 seats."Guinée équatoriale: le parti présidentiel grand vainqueur des législatives" , AFP, May 9, 2008 . There have never been more than eight true opposition deputies in the lower house, and the PDGE and its allies have won every seat in the upper chamber since its inception in 2013. Consequently, there is no substantive opposition to presidential decisions.
Similarly, Obiang typically wins 95 to 99% of the vote in presidential elections, with the opposition regularly calling for boycotts. In the 2016 presidential election, however, Obiang won around 93% of the vote, a new low for his presidency.
The party has been criticized for acting in an authoritarian manner"Equatorial Guinea country profile". BBC News. 8 May 2018. 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 other than support for Obiang, although it has sometimes been described as pseudo-populist. One of its few concrete policy stances is support of foreign investment in the oil sector. Some of the few other tenets of the PDGE are militarism and anti-separatism (which often amounts to Fang chauvinism).
The community leaders in all of rural Equatorial Guinea are strongly pressured to be members of the party, and also pressure citizens throughout their communities into joining.
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 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.
Electoral history
Presidential elections ElectionPresidential candidateVotes%Result1989Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo99%Elected 1996179,59297.8%Elected 2002204,367 97.1%Elected 2009 260,46295.36%Elected 2016271,17792.70%Elected 2022405,91097.00%Elected
Chamber of Deputies elections ElectionParty leaderVotes%Seats+/–PositionResult1988Teodoro Obiang99.2%New 1st199354,58969.8% 8 1st1999156,94985.5% 7 1st200499,89249.4% 7 1st2008 21 1st2013 10 1st201792.00% 0 1st2022 1 1st
Senate elections ElectionParty leaderVotes%Seats+/–PositionResult2013Teodoro Obiang 54 1st201792.00% 1 1st2022 0 1st
Notes
References
External links Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (Spanish)