Gabon's Constitutional Court has approved a list of eight candidates to run in the Central African nation's presidential election next month, including interim President Brice Oligui Nguema, who seized power in a military coup in 2023.

Although transitional leaders are not usually allowed to run for election, Gabon approved a new constitution by a landslide in November that exempted Nguema, stoking opposition and analyst concerns that the junta would seek to remain in power.

 For more on this, Peter Ndoro Douglas Yates, Professor of Political Science at the American Graduate School in Paris.