“There must be immediate solution following the announcement on August 31 of the provisional results of the presidential election held on August 27”.
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Bongo has claimed victory by a slender margin of around 6,000 votes, but opposition leader Jean Ping has called a general strike in response to what he says is a fraudulent re-election.
Ping has said the number of votes cast in southeastern Haut-Ogooue province were inflated to give victory to Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African oil-producing country for nearly half a century.
LIBREVILLE, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Gabon’s re-elected president, Ali Bongo, came under worldwide scrutiny on Tuesday as a European Union mission questioned the validity of his narrow win, France recommended a recount and the African Union said it would send mediators. The government has reported at least three deaths, though residents say there are likely more.
Some 800 people were arrested in the clashes that followed the news that Bongo had been re-elected.
“We accept all mediation efforts”, Ping said of the AU delegation, while calling for calm.
“An analysis of the number of non-voters and blank and spoiled ballots reveals an obvious anomaly in the final results”, it said, adding that confidence in the results is compromised.
“In order to restore the confidence of Gabon, I reiterate my call on the Gabonese authorities to publish the poll results by polling station”, said European Union observation chief Mariya Gabriel. On Tuesday, the African Union said it was ready to send a high-level delegation to Libreville to mediate.
Ping, a former diplomat and African Union Commission chairman, said he had been told the delegation would arrive on Thursday.
He also said the country’s authorities have not heard from several French citizens in Gabon in the last few days, adding that the country is concerned.
Authorities appeared to have restored order in Libreville on Tuesday and shopkeepers and government workers returned to their jobs despite Ping’s earlier call for a mass walk-out.
Global pressure is growing on Gabon’s government to show transparency in the vote results, with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday telling RTL radio that “common sense would command a recount of the ballots”.
Gabon’s opposition can launch an appeal for a recount through the Constitutional Court, although it has not yet indicated it would do so.
Parliament also resumed, with lawmakers gathering sombrely in the Senate building after part of the National Assembly complex was badly damaged during last week’s protests. Gabon is a former French colony.
More than 1,000 people have been detained in the unrest.
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United Nations human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Tuesday they were following the situation in Gabon with “increased concern”.
