Gabon election: President Ali Bongo aims for third term

Voting has taken place within the oil-rich central African nation of Gabon the place President Ali Bongo – who got here to energy when his father Omar died in 2009 – is hoping to win a 3rd time period.

He faces competitors from 13 individuals.

“Gabon isn’t the property of the Bongos,” mentioned foremost opposition candidate Albert Ondo Ossa days earlier on the marketing campaign path.

On Saturday he complained that many polling stations throughout the nation lacked poll papers bearing his identify.

Mr Ondo Ossa, a former economics professor and one-time training minister, was appointed as chief of the Alternance 2023 coalition simply final week.

The coalition says the names of a few of those that have withdrawn from the presidential race are nonetheless on the poll paper.

As in earlier basic elections, there are critical considerations concerning the course of.

For the primary time, voters had been requested to mark a single poll with their selection of a president and MP who should belong to the identical celebration.

Consultants say this disadvantages unbiased candidates – notably Mr Ondo Ossa, who heads the principle opposition coalition however lacks a celebration of his personal.

International media have been banned from setting foot within the nation to cowl Saturday’s vote, says the marketing campaign group Reporters With out Borders.

No worldwide election screens from the EU or UN had been current both.

Native civil society group Tournons La Web page mentioned they might attempt to act as observers regardless of having no official accreditation.

There have been stories of delays at some voting centres, and as voting closed the federal government introduced a curfew beginning on Sunday night and mentioned web entry had been suspended all through the nation, AFP information company reported.

It quoted Communications Minister Rodrigue Mboumba Bissawou as saying the measures had been geared toward countering “requires violence… and false data”.

Earlier than Saturday’s vote a row erupted, with President Bongo accusing Mr Ondo Ossa and one other opposition determine of treason.

The pair deny claims that they had been recorded plotting methods to create an influence wrestle in Gabon and win assist from international powers, and so they have accused the federal government of “shameful manipulation” in an announcement launched by Alternance 2023.

In addition to voting for his or her selection of president and MPs, the individuals of Gabon had been additionally selecting mayors and native councillors.

Gabon has a complete inhabitants of two.3 million individuals and enjoys oil wealth and wealthy swathes of rainforest.

However the international financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has led to declining exports of uncooked supplies.

Again in 2018, President Bongo suffered a stroke which sidelined him for nearly a 12 months and result in requires him to step apart.