The president controls the executive branch, including the council of ministers. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa’s longest-serving head of state, has held the presidency since 1979. In the November 2022 presidential election, he ostensibly won 97 percent of the votes in an unfair contest against two nominal challengers from the opposition.

The bicameral parliament consists of a 70-seat Senate and a 100-seat Chamber of Deputies. The president appoints 15 senators and the remaining 55 are directly elected. The Chamber of Deputies is directly elected, and all elected lawmakers serve five-year terms.

In the November 2022 legislative elections, the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) and its allies won all 100 seats in the lower house, all 55 seats in the Senate, and all 588 municipal council seats. The campaign environment was tightly controlled by the authorities.

Equatorial Guinea does not have an independent electoral body; the head of the National Electoral Commission during the 2022 elections was also the country’s interior minister and a member of the ruling PDGE. Elections are not fairly managed in practice.

The PDGE is the ruling party, in coalition with several subordinate parties. The only other parties allowed to participate in the 2022 elections were the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) and the Party of the Social Democratic Coalition (PCSD).

Opposition leaders and members are subject to arrest, abuse in detention, and heavy prison sentences after unfair trials. In 2022, police attacked the headquarters of the CI opposition party, which was banned in 2018, and arrested as many as 275 people, including party leader Gabriel Nsé Obiang. One officer and at least four civilians were reportedly killed in the assault, and many others were injured. In June 2023, dozens of members of CI were sentenced to prison terms of more than 9 years, including Obiang, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison after a closed-door military trial.

In January 2023, a jailed opposition member, Spanish–Equatorial Guinean Julio Obama Mefuman, died in prison shortly after Spanish authorities launched an investigation related to his kidnapping. Obama was allegedly kidnapped in South Sudan and brought to Malabo, and the subjects of the investigation included Equatorial Guinea’s minister of national security and one of the president’s sons.

Equatorial Guinea has never experienced a peaceful transfer of power through elections. President Obiang took power after a coup in 1979, and in 2016 he appointed his son as vice president, paving the way for his succession.

The November 2022 elections featured extensive irregularities and no genuine competition. Opposition candidates did not win any seats in the presidential, legislative, and municipal elections.

The regime routinely uses the security forces to attack and intimidate opposition supporters.

The ethnic Fang majority dominates political life, leaving members of minority ethnic groups with little influence. Power is concentrated in the hands of the president’s family and allies from the family’s region of origin. Women formally enjoy equal political rights, but the repressive political system does not allow them to organize independently to advance their interests. Women make up 31 percent of the Chamber of Deputies, and 22 percent of the Senate. While no law explicitly prevents LGBT+ individuals from exercising their political rights, societal discrimination discourages them from participating openly .

In August 2023 an LGBT+ activist, Trifonia Melibea Obono, was arrested in Malabo and released a few days later. Earlier, in July, the premises of her feminist and LGBT+ advocacy organization were searched without a warrant.

The executive branch—headed by the president, who is not freely elected—sets and implements government policy, leaving the legislature no meaningful role in the policymaking process.

There are no independent anticorruption mechanisms, and the government is marred by nepotism and graft. Key anticorruption institutions, including the Accounts Court and the Anticorruption Commission, are either inactive or lack autonomy. Hiring and promotions within the government, army, and civil service favor those with ties to the president, his family, and members of the ruling party. Two of the president’s sons, the vice president and the minister of mines and hydrocarbons, have been the subjects of corruption cases in European courts.

Most cases of corruption are investigated under the direction of the vice president, and often investigations are politically targeted or lack respect for due process. Members and close associates of the ruling family who have been implicated in significant corruption cases have escaped punishment.

The government’s budget process and procurement system are opaque. A significant percentage of revenue from the country’s oil reserves is funneled to Obiang’s allies through noncompetitive, nontransparent contracts. International financial organizations and human rights groups have criticized the way the government invests in wasteful infrastructure while neglecting public health and social spending.

Most journalists consistently exercise self-censorship, and those who do criticize the regime are subject to dismissal and other reprisals. The government has long sought to block access to the websites of opposition parties and exile groups.

Religious freedom is protected by the constitution. The Roman Catholic Church is the dominant religious group and is exempt from registration and permit requirements that apply to other groups.

In 2020, the government disbanded two religious groups on the grounds that they did not comply with restrictions related to COVID-19.

Rubén Mayé Nsue Mangue, a pastor, former justice minister, and ambassador to the United States, was arrested in 2022 and banned from practicing his religion after he allegedly criticized the government in sermons and on social media. His location remains unknown.

Academic freedom is politically constrained, and self-censorship among university staff is common. Some university professors and teachers have allegedly been hired or dismissed based on their political affiliations.

The government uses informants and electronic surveillance to monitor dissent, and critics of the government are subject to arbitrary arrest, physical abuse, and trumped-up criminal charges.

Freedom of assembly is severely restricted. Opposition gatherings are typically blocked or dispersed by security forces, and citizens are sometimes pressured to attend progovernment events.

All associations must register with the government through an onerous process, and independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) face state persecution.

Among those arrested in the broader preelection crackdown in September 2022 were human rights activists Luis Nzó Ondo and Anacleto Micha Ndong. In 2023, Ondo received a multiyear prison sentence alongside four other individuals for allegedly plotting a terrorist act. Also in 2023, Micha was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt against authority after he had already been imprisoned for nine months. He was later arrested and held for four days in December due to his remarks about the alleged torture he suffered while imprisoned.

The constitution provides for the right to organize unions, but there are many legal and practical barriers to union formation, collective bargaining, and strikes. The government has refused to register several trade unions; a farmers’ organization is the only legal union.

The judiciary is not independent, and judges often consult with the president before issuing important rulings. Under the constitution, the president is the nation’s first magistrate. He also oversees the body that nominates judges. The vice president frequently criticizes the judiciary, exercising pressure on judges who are afraid of being dismissed or arrested. The court system’s impartiality is further undermined by corruption.

Security forces routinely detain people without charge, and defendants’ due process rights are not respected.

In June 2023, dozens of members of the opposition CI party were sentenced by a military court. Observers deemed the use of a military court irregular, and the trial took place behind closed doors without independent legal representation for the defendants.

Jerónimo Ndgong Mesi, an activist, was imprisoned in January 2023 without being formally charged and remained in prison at the end of the year. In August another activist, Joaquin Elo Ayeto, was unlawfully held in detention for more than a month for a civil offense.

Beatings, torture, and forced disappearances by security forces are reportedly common. Prisons are overcrowded and feature harsh conditions, including physical abuse, poor sanitation, and denial of medical care. In September 2023, several officials were tried by a military court for torture and homicide after at least seven inmates died of mistreatment, torture, and starvation under their supervision.

Women face discrimination in employment and other matters, particularly in rural areas. Ethnic minority groups such as the Bubi, Ndowe, and Annobonese suffer persistent societal discrimination in the form of harassment from law enforcement officials or difficulties accessing public services.

Immigrants, including irregular migrants, are subject to raids, physical abuse, and extortion by police. Same-sex sexual activity is not illegal, but LGBT+ people face social stigma and mistreatment including street harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

Freedom of movement is protected by law but restricted in practice through measures such as police checkpoints, which often require the payment of bribes. Authorities have prevented opposition members and other dissidents from returning from abroad, confiscated their passports, and restricted their movements within the country. In 2023, the outbreak of the Marburg virus in Equatorial Guinea resulted in travel restrictions in the affected areas.

Pervasive corruption is a major impediment to private business activity. Members of the Bubi minority have reported cases of land grabs by elites and the government in recent years.

Most women face disadvantages regarding inheritance and property rights under both the civil code and customary practices.

The civil code and customary law put women at a disadvantage with respect to personal status matters like marriage and child custody, with some exceptions among the Bubi. Laws against rape and domestic violence are not enforced effectively. The Education Ministry bars pregnant girls from attending school.

The country’s oil wealth is concentrated among the ruling elite. Equatorial Guinea continues to score poorly on social and economic development indicators, and economic conditions have worsened when global oil prices are low.

Some foreign workers are subject to passport confiscation and forced labor. Corrupt officials are often complicit in human trafficking, according to the US State Department.