![In Gabon (in Africa), President Bongo and his regime may lose power in upcoming elections.](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/gabon-africa-president-elections-bongo-regime-politics-03302023-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
Ahead of Gabon’s general elections later this year, President Ali Bongo has engaged in a series of carrot-and-stick maneuvers designed to smooth the way for him to maintain power. But in many ways, Gabon’s electoral democracy is a thin veneer for a kinship-based political order at the center of which sits the Bongo family.