Denis Sassou Nguesso

Denis Sassou Nguesso, born 23 November 1943, was a military officer who became president of the People's Republic of the Congo in 1979, heading the Congolese Party of Labour for twelve years. He introduced multiparty politics in 1990, but the 1991 National Conference stripped him of executive powers, leaving him ceremonial; he placed third in the 1992 presidential election. After five years in opposition, his rebel forces ousted President Pascal Lissouba during the Second Republic of the Congo Civil War, returning him to power in 1997. He won the 2002 election with low opposition participation and was re-elected in 2009. In 2015 he passed a new constitution by referendum - boycotted and dismissed by opposition leaders - that enabled him to run again. He won in 2016, 2021, and 2026, each time in the first round.