section_path: Coup and presidency
section_name: Coup and presidency
paragraph_text: Coup and presidency
  
  On 30 August 2023, Nguema and his Republican Guards took power without encountering any resistance during a coup d'état. This occurred just hours after the electoral authorities announced in the middle of the night that the incumbent president, Ali Bongo, had won a third seven-year term with a significant 64% of the vote in the 2023 Gabonese presidential election a few days prior.
  
  Following the coup, the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions named Oligui as the interim president of Gabon in an announcement aired on state television. He was later seen on the shoulders of jubilant army personnel calling him the " President ".
  
  In an interview with Le Monde later in the day, he referred to Bongo as "retired", and said that the military had staged the coup due to discontent that had been growing in the country since Bongo's stroke in 2018, his decision to run for a third term, the disregarding of the country's constitution and the conduct of the election. His appointment as interim president was later confirmed by other generals, and he was formally sworn in as "transitional president" at the Presidential Palace on 4 September. In his inaugural address, he pledged to hold "free, transparent" elections but did not give an exact date as to when. He also announced the formation of a new government in the coming days and proposed new electoral legislation, a new penal code, a referendum on a new constitution, and the release of all political prisoners.
  
  In October 2023, Oligui announced that he would give up his salary as president and rely instead on his wages as commander of the Republican Guard.
  
  In March 2025, Oligui announced that he would run for president in his own right in the 2025 Gabonese presidential election on 12 April. In the lead-up to the election, Oligui created his political platform, Rally of Builders. He was elected with 90.35% of the vote and was inaugurated on 3 May.