Equatorial Guinea will hold its presidential elections on Nov. 29, as President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has been in power for 30 years, will run for another term and opposition leader Placido Mico Abogo tries to challenge the long-time rule.
An ethnic Fang, Obiang Nguema was born on June 5, 1942 in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea. He attended the Military Academy in Saragoza, Spain
during 1963 to 1965. After graduation, he went back to Equatorial Guinea and joined the local Guard forces.
Since the independence of Equatorial Guinea in 1968, Obiang has successively served as army chief of the Bioko island in 1969, director of
supply and planning for the Ministry of Defense in 1970, secretary general of the Defense Ministry in 1976 and deputy minister of the Defense Ministry
in 1979.
In August, 1979, Obiang led a coup that overthrew then-leader Francisco Macias Nguema, and was later chosen to be president of the Supreme Military Council. He served as head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in October, 1979.
In 1982, Obiang was elected as Equatorial Guinea's president for a seven-year term.
He founded the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) in 1986 and became president of the party in 1988.
Obiang has been continuously re-elected as president of the country in 1989, 1996 and 2002, each time with more than 90 percent of the votes.
Mico Abogo, secretary-general of the major opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), will also run for the presidency. He was chosen as secretary-general of the party in 1994, and was re-elected to the post twice in 2001 and 2005.
Mico Abogo is the only CPDS member in the Chamber of People's Representatives, the country's parliament. His party won one out of the 100
seats in the parliamentary elections in 2008, while the rest were secured by the PDGE and the small opposition parties allied to it.