In 2009, Bongo won with only 41.73 per cent from the election.
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Bongo’s camp has dismissed such claims as “totally insane”. “It’s tight, but we are ahead”.
Results will be announced by the electoral commission on Tuesday, the ministry said on Twitter.
Before polling began Boubeya said everything was “in place to guarantee a transparent and impartial election”.
According to a statement issued by his spokesman, the Secretary-General “hopes the same spirit of peace and transparency will prevail before and following the official announcement of the provisional results, which should reflect the will of the people”.
“We are waiting calmly, but we are confident”, the incumbent president said.
But the acrimony that had marked the campaign period continued into the weekend with each of the main rivals accusing the other of mischief.
Bilie By Nzé also said “massive fraud” had been observed during the vote, particularly in polling stations located in opposition strongholds.
As he cast his own ballot Saturday morning, Ping told reporters, “We know the other side is trying to cheat. It is up to you to be vigilant”.
Igor Simard, Bongo’s spokesman, said that nobody could claim victory when votes were still being counted by the authorities.
“There’s a risk that certain people who did so much harm to our country will come back” to power, the president told a crowd of thousands during his last rally in the capital, Libreville.
Gabon braced for possible violence Tuesday as the country awaited official results of a bitterly disputed presidential election, with both frontrunners claiming victory in a vote condemned by European Union observers as lacking transparency.
The streets of Libreville were deserted with shops and stalls that are usually open on Sundays shuttered.
“If Bongo wants to hold on to power he has the machine that will allow him to do so”, said Ba, explaining that the country’s electoral commission is not entirely independent, and the constitutional court, which would adjudicate challenges to the result, is made up of judged appointed by Bongo.
“The ruling party that’s been running Gabon since independence controls everything, but what we see now is increasing unity within the opposition, which could mean that the margin of victory will be narrower than ever before”.
Friend of America, champion of conservation and heir to one of Africa’s most extravagant dictators, Ali Bongo, president of Gabon, is set to win a second term in office today, despite growing unrest at home and fears that Saturday’s ballot could spark widespread violence.
But protracted negotiations led all the key challengers to pull out and put their weight behind Ping, with the last of them withdrawing only last week.
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Bongo, 57, has campaigned under the slogan “Let’s change together”, playing up the roads and hospitals built during his first term and stressing the need to break with the bad old days of disappearing public funds and dodgy management of oil revenues. “The best way to describe Gabon’s economy is in its potential”, Ping told USA TODAY.
