Voters were lining up at polling stations in the Central African nation of Gabon on Saturday, in presidential elections expected to extend the 49-year reign of the Bongo family.

President Ali Bongo, whose Gabonese Democratic Party has a firm grip on power in the oil-rich nation, is facing nine other candidates.

But analysts believe Bongo has high chances of securing a second seven-year term, despite rising social tensions.

Bongo, 57, was elected for a first term in disputed 2009 polls following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled Gabon since 1967.

Under Omar Bongo, the former French colony tapped into its new-found oil wealth to become the world’s fifth largest oil producer.

However, most of the oil wealth has not trickled down to ordinary people, while critics accuse the Bongo family of corruption and despotism.

Bongo’s strongest rival is Jean Ping, 73, a former president of the United Nations General Assembly and former chair of the African Union Commission.

Almost 630,000 citizens out of the nation’s 1.7 million people are eligible to cast their vote between 0600 GMT and 1700 GMT in a single round.

The candidate with the most votes will win.