Observers note low turnout in Congo-Brazzaville presidential polls

Polling stations in the Republic of Congo have closed following a day of voting in elections that are widely expected to ‌extend incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso's decades-long rule.

The 82-year-old faced off against a weak field of challengers with two of the country’s best‑known opposition leaders in prison and several parties boycotting the vote.

Six candidates are standing against Sassou Nguesso but the main opposition is divided and largely absent, leaving him set to win another five-year term.

Observers say voter turnout could reach a record low, largely reflecting the lack of suspense over the poll's outcome.

The president toured the country during the election campaign, which ended Friday, backed by the ruling Congolese Workers' Party (PCT), urging voters to come to the ballot box.

Yet at one polling station in the Ouenze district of the capital Brazzaville, only a handful of ballots lay in the box at 9:00 am local time.

Several other stations, meanwhile, had not received all their election materials by 7:00 am, when the polls were due to open.

The few voters who did arrive mostly refused to be filmed or provide their names. One elderly woman did speak out, saying "Denis Sassou will win".

"It's normal for a citizen to go vote who thinks, 'I chose President Denis Sassou Nguesso, he's the one who will bring peace'," said Georgine, who admitted to working for the ruling party.

After voting on Sunday, Sassou Nguesso said he remained hopeful that the promise of victory heard during the campaign “will come to fruition today”.

"So I say to the people that if we are elected, the [development] project we presented will be implemented, and we hope that the people will rise up and stand with us,” he said.

While he can claim to have brought some stability to the country, rights groups regularly denounce what they say is the persecution of opposition activists.

Two opposition figures who featured in the 2016 election campaign, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, are both behind bars, jailed for 20 years for supposedly being a "threat to internal security".

During his election campaign, the president underlined his economic record, having pushed to modernise the country's infrastructure and develop the gas and agriculture sectors in a bid to make Congo self-sufficient.

Oil and gas provide most of the state revenue, driving growth that is estimated to be 2.9 percent for 2025. Nevertheless, more than half of the country lives below the poverty line.

Critics say the country's growth has been sapped by massive amounts of state oil revenue syphoned into the bank accounts of senior administration officials.

The government has already been the target of several criminal complaints and investigations, notably in France.

While Sassou Nguesso's re-election seems assured, the constitution forbids him from running again in 2031, raising the question of a possible handover.

He has said he will not remain "in power for ever" and that the young generation would get their turn. But he would not name anyone in particular as a possible successor.

Sassou Nguesso first led Congo-Brazzaville under a one-party system from 1979 to 1992 before losing the first multi-party elections, whose winner he then overthrew in a civil war in 1997.

He was re-elected in 2002, 2009, 2016, and 2021 in votes the opposition said were neither transparent nor democratic.

He has maintained a firm grip over the former French colony, which gained independence in 1960 and has traditionally maintained close ties with both France and Russia.

The third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, Congo-Brazzaville depends heavily on hydrocarbons, which account for more than three-quarters of export earnings.