Opposition parties in Africa frequently say votes are rigged, but the results are rarely overturned and it is unusual for a president once declared victor, as in this case, to face significant worldwide pressure over the election.
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In their analysis, the European Union election monitors said: “The number of non-voters, as well as blank and disqualified votes, reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue”.
Clashes quickly broke out in the Central African country after the.
“What people should be asking me to do is apply the law”.
Seraphin Moundounga has resigned from his justice minister post and also from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) following days of protest against the reelection of President Ali Bongo.
The parliament in the capital, Libreville, was also torched in protests over the result.
The EU observer commission said Tuesday that in addition to not having full access to all districts within Bongo’s stronghold Haut-Ogooue province, voter turnout there appeared inflated.
The official election result gave Mr Bongo a second seven-year term with 49.8 per cent of the vote to Mr Ping’s 48.2 per cent – a margin of 5,594 votes.
Bongo told French radio that only the Constitutional Court might order a recount.
“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.
He has also shrugged off worldwide calls for a recount of last week’s disputed vote saying it was a matter for the constitutional court to decide. “Our priority now is the safety of the 15,000 French people who live and work in Gabon”, he said.
Bongo’s victory means a continuation of the dynasty that has led Gabon for nearly 50 years.
The opposition leader, however, says that the election was a sham and has demanded a recount – a call echoed by Manuel Valls, prime minister of Gabon’s former colonial power, France.
But it has ruled out intervention in Gabon where it has a military base. In April, anti-corruption investigators seized several Bongo family properties in France.
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Ping, a former diplomat, has said he has no faith in the constitutional court because of its alleged ties to the Bongo family.
