Gabon’s Constitutional Court has rejected the African Union’s (AU) proposed observer mission to the central African nation as it prepares to deliver a verdict on the contentious presidential elections of August 27.
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Presidential rival Jean Ping has denounced the poll as a fraud and the Constitutional Court has until Friday to decide on Ping’s complaint.
“If there is a refusal to secure installations. the workers will leave them at the employer’s risk”, Binet said, adding: “Forcing workers to stay on site, against their will. would be to expose installations to all kinds of risks”.
Incumbent President Ali Bongo, the son of late ruler Omar Bongo, was declared the victor of the August 27 election by a margin of fewer than 6,000 votes.
Ali Bongo’s camp on the other hand, has also handed over result sheets it says shows rigging in opposition strongholds.
Wary locals were also stockpiling food to last through the weekend, anxious that any fresh unrest could see the streets blocked with roadblocks and checkpoints. The head of the court, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, was the long-time mistress of Ali Bongo’s father Omar Bongo, who ruled for 41 years.
Ping has made clear he believes Bongo has the court in his pocket, referring to it as “the Tower of Pisa that always leans the same way”.
“Nobody wants to be in Mborantsuo’s shoes”, said a diplomatic source.
The hearing was to take place at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT), a day before the expiry of a 15-day deadline for the Constitutional Court to resolve electoral disputes.
The west African nation of 1.8 million people has been deeply split by violent protests that erupted after Bongo was declared the victor.
The top document on a pile stacked on the opposition’s legal table was titled Province Haut-Ogooue, a stronghold region for Bongo who won 95 percent of the vote there on a 99.9 percent turnout, according to electoral commission results.
In the chaos that erupted after the announcement, demonstrators set fire to the parliament and clashed violently with police, who launched a fierce crackdown arresting around a thousand people.
Following the vote, European Union election observers said there had been a “clear anomaly” in the final results from Haut-Ogooue.
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This post was syndicated from The Guardian NigeriaThe Guardian Nigeria.
