Politics of Equatorial Guinea

The politics of Equatorial Guinea take place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is both the head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Chamber of People's Representatives

A great deal of political party activity ensued when Equatorial Guinea attained autonomy from Spain in 1963. Bubi and Fernandino parties on the island preferred separation from Río Muni or a loose federation. Ethnically-based parties in Río Muni favored independence for a united country comprising Bioko and Río Muni, an approach that was adopted. The Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island (MAIB), which advocates independence for the island under Bubi control, is one of the offshoots of the era immediately preceding independence.

Equatorial Guinea became independent from Spain on October 12, 1968. Since then, the country has had two presidents: Francisco Macías Nguema, who had been the mayor of Mongomo under the Spanish colonial government, and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Macías's nephew, who has ruled since 1979, when he staged a military coup d'état and executed his uncle. When Macías came to power, political activity largely ceased. Opposition figures among the exile communities in Spain and elsewhere agitated for reforms; some of them had been employed in the Macías and Obiang governments. After political activities in Equatorial Guinea were legalized in the early 1990s, some opposition leaders returned to test the waters, but repressive actions have continued sporadically.

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