In December 1969, Poungui was included in the original Political Bureau of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT) as President of the Economy, Finance, and Social Affairs Committee.
[8][9] Amidst the introduction of multiparty politics, Poungui resigned from the PCT on 28 November 1990[10][11] and became the leader of a new party, the Union for Social Progress and Democracy (UPSD).
[12] At the end of the June–October 1997 civil war, in which PCT leader Denis Sassou Nguesso returned to power, Poungui, as a supporter of President Pascal Lissouba, fled into exile.
[15] On 19 June 2009, less than a month before the election, the Constitutional Court ruled against Poungui's candidacy, deciding that he was ineligible to stand because he had not lived continuously in the country for at least two years.
[16] Following the announcement of official results showing an overwhelming victory for Sassou Nguesso, he and other opposition leaders participated in a banned protest march on 15 July 2009.
[17] In further remarks on 2 September, Akouala Atipault said that the banned march had been a disturbance of public order, and he stressed the principle of equality under the law, arguing that no one, not even prominent politicians, could behave with impunity.