Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping filed his challenge to the results of the August 27 presidential poll at the urging of the worldwide community, according to his representative on Gabon’s electoral commission.
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Any appeals of the results of the August 27 presidential election – which gave Bongo a razor-thin lead over Ping – are supposed to be lodged at the Constitutional Court by 4:00 pm (1500 GMT).
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo says he doesn’t see a risk of a coup to overthrow him after the disputed presidential election.
On one side of the dispute is incumbent President Ali Bongo, who was declared victor of the August 27 election by electoral officials.
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.
At Upper Ougoue, a participation rate of 99.9 percent placed Ali Bongo 5.594 votes ahead of Jean Ping.
The European Union has questioned the validity of the result which saw Bongo win by a wafer-thin margin and France has said a recount would be wise.
Asked in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Wednesday whether he would permit a recount, Bongo told France’s RTL radio: “What people should be asking me to do is apply the law”.
The ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has suffered a series of high-level defections in recent years.
“If we go to the constitutional court, we will enter a trap we can never escape”, a close associate of Ping had warned Wednesday.
The central African nation has been ruled by the Bongo family since 1967.
Deadly violence erupted in the capital, Libreville, last week after official results showed President Bongo beating Ping by about 6,000 votes nationwide.
Mr Bongo accused Mr Ping, a former African Union Commission chairman, of attempting “massive fraud” and said it was hard to envisage dialogue with “people who ask the Gabonese to go into the street to loot and destroy and burn things”.
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The government says three people died in the unrest, dismissing some opposition claims that between 50 and 100 people lost their lives.
