Opposition nominee Jean Ping said two people were killed and many injured after security forces started an assault on the headquarters of his party.
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“They assaulted around 01:00 (00:00 GMT)”. It is the Republican Guard. “They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground”, Ping said earlier.
Bongo was reported to have won the election with 49.8% of the vote versus 48.2% for Ping, a margin of just 5,594 votes out of a total 627,805 registered voters.
Ping’s party had earlier said its tally showed their candidate won 59% of the vote versus 38% for Bongo, with only one province left to count, a claim the government condemned as an effort to destabilise the country.
He called for global assistance to protect the population.
“There is no place for violence in an electoral process”, said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in a statement, after reports of deadly clashes following the re-election of President Ali Bongo in disputed polls.
Demonstrators had set fire to cars and buildings, vandalized a mall and looted a bank in the capital.
The win by Bongo would mean an extension of the 50-year rule of the Bongo family.
Opposition delegates in the electoral commission have vowed to fight for a recount.
Gabon’s electoral commission has begun to review the votes for Saturday’s presidential election before announcing provisional results, a day later than expected.
“We’ve never seen results like these, even during the father’s time”, he added.
Police also fired teargas in clashes with around 100 opposition supporters, according to a Reuters witness.
Ping, the European Union, the United States and former colonial power France have called for voting figures from each of Gabon’s polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of overall result.
Ali Bongo was first elected in 2009 after the death of his father Omar, who ran Gabon for 42 years.
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Ping’s own roots – he is Sino-Gabonese – served as ammunition for Bongo’s camp, which has suggested he and his son are secretly serving Chinese interests.
