Opposition leader Jean Ping told Reuters two people were killed when presidential guard soldiers and police attacked his party’s headquarters overnight, and he called on foreign governments to help protect Gabon’s population from what he called a “rogue state”.
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Ping said: “The Republican Guard attacked our headquarters at 1.00 a.m. (0000GMT)”. Around 6pm local time on August 31 he tweeted that his offices were under assault by the Republican Guard. “They were bombarding with helicopters… There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously”, Ping said.
The turnout was 59.46 percent, according to the results announced by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.
“The opposition says the election was fraudulent, but President Bongo says it was” peaceful and transparent.
It said police used tear gas to prevent crowds from gathering again and arrested people as they emerged from remains of the parliament.
Ping, a life-long political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of Omar Bongo and fathered two children with the late president’s daughter, Pascaline.
“What we are asking is, under the supervision of the global community, to count ballot by ballot, bureau by bureau”.
European Union observers criticized what they called a “lack of transparency”, and the EU called for electoral officials to publish results from all polling stations.
The results by the Autonomous and Permanent National Electoral Commission (CENAP) gave the incumbent Bongo a slim margin victory of 5,594 votes over Ping.
“This will help give the people of Gabon, as well as the worldwide community, confidence the announced vote tallies are accurate”, the statement from Assistant Secretary John Kirby continued.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged political leaders and their supporters “to refrain from further acts that could undermine the peace and stability of the country”. Bongo who came to power after the death of his father in 2009, secured 49.80 percent of the votes to win last Saturday’s poll.
“The events during the night in Libreville have made me extremely concerned”, said Ayrault, who called on “all sides to exercise maximum restraint, in order to avoid more victims”.
Oil-rich Gabon has one of the highest per-capita incomes in Africa, but few of its 1.6 million people feel the benefit.
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Mr Bongo, 57, 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 suspect management of oil revenues.
