France, April 11 -- In Gabon, the electoral campaign is in full swing ahead of the presidential election on 12 April, with eight candidates in the running. Who are these seven men and one woman?

Gabon will elect a new president on Saturday, after 19 months of interim rule by military leaders who seized power in a coup.

Gabon is one of the richest countries in Africa in terms of per-capita GDP, thanks to oil, wood and manganese (used in steelmaking and batteries) and its small population of just 2.3 million.

But as global crude prices have fallen, the contribution of Gabonese oil production to GDP has fallen and the central African country's debt rose to 73.3 percent of GDP last year. It's projected to reach 80 percent this year.

In 50...