Moundounga resigned on Monday this week over government’s refusal to recount controversial ballots that saw protests and allegations of fraud after President Ali Bongo was re-elected by a slim margin.
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The Constitutional Court is expected to meet today to consider a challenge by Ping and Bongo said he would respect the wishes of the court if it ordered a recount.
The opposition has accused Bongo of rigging the vote and called for a recount – a call echoed by Manuel Valls, prime minister of Gabon’s former colonial power France.
France has intervened in its former African colonies in the past but has ruled out intervention in Gabon, which has been run by the Bongo family for half a century.
During the unrest, the parliament building was set ablaze, many shops were looted and life in the capital brought to a standstill. “For once we’re respecting the law and we’re being told to circumvent it, it’s unusual”, he said.
Asked whether he would accept the court’s ruling if it did examine the results, he said: “I am a democrat”.
But he conceded the wisdom of keeping the fight within the law.
France has a military base in Gabon but relations have soured recently.
“Times have changed”, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told a news conference in Paris. “I am in favour of the Constitutional Court taking up the case”.
Bongo has countered that it was Ping who cheated.
The main bone of contention, especially for the global community, relates to results from the Haut-Ogooue province, Bongo’s heartland.
Official results gave turnout in the province at more than 99 percent, with 95 percent backing the incumbent.
Speaking on France’s Europe 1 radio station, Bongo said that criticism by European Union observers against the voting process in Gabon is “biased”.
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Bongo accused some members of the mission of overstepping its mandate. In April, anti-corruption investigators seized several Bongo family properties in France.
