Share

Gabon’s Bongo shrugs off calls for vote recount

Election commission results showed Bongo beat challenger Jean Ping in the oil-rich central African country’s August 27 presidential vote by 1.57 percentage points.

Advertisement

Ping has accused the country’s Constitutional Court of being under Bongo’s influence, and called for help from the global community to reverse the result.

Several people were killed and around 800 people arrested.

Election monitors have focused on Haut-Ogooue, a Bongo stronghold, where official figures showed he won 95.46% of the vote on a 99.9% turnout.

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”.

Post-election clashes between his supporters and security forces have resulted in the deaths of between 50 to 100 people, Ping said on Tuesday.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, one of Africa’s longest-ruling presidents who now holds the chair of the pan-African body, would likely to lead the talks, he added.

Ping, a former diplomat and African Union Commission chairman, said he welcomed all efforts at mediation, adding: “We want democracy and peace to triumph”.

Opposition leader Jean Ping, who has said the election was stolen, called on Tuesday for help from the global community.

Authorities appeared to have restored order in Libreville on Tuesday and shopkeepers and government workers returned to their jobs despite Ping’s earlier call for a mass walk-out.

He said he had no faith in the constitutional court because it was tied to the Bongo family and he wanted a recount done under global supervision before any appeal to that court.

One of their main complaints is that Gabon’s ample oil wealth has not been shared fairly amongst the Central African country’s population of 1.8 million.

Advertisement

GABONESE Justice Minister Seraphim Moundounga has resigned in protest over the disputed presidential election. But it has ruled out intervening in Gabon, where it has a military base. Human rights groups say the true toll could be…

Gabon Violence