The European Union observation mission in Gabon said Tuesday it noted an anomaly in voting results from the president’s stronghold province that pushed him over the edge to win re-election by a slim margin.
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Gabon’s re-elected president, Ali Bongo, came under worldwide scrutiny on Tuesday as a European Union mission questioned the validity of his narrow win, France recommended a recount and the African Union said it would send mediators.
Protests erupted in Gabon’s main cities last week after the electoral commission announced that Bongo won the election with 49.8 percent of the vote against 48.2 percent for opposition leader Jean Ping.
Post-election violence in Gabon has killed between 50 and 100 people, the opposition presidential candidate said Tuesday, a toll much higher than the government’s count of three in days of violent demonstrations against the president’s re-election.
Worldwide pressure is growing on Gabon’s government to show transparency in the vote.
Up to 1,100 people were arrested last week during the unrest, according to the interior minister, although many have since been released. Gabon’s justice minister has resigned over the government’s refusal to recount the ballots.
Bongo is under increasing pressure at home and overseas after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga resigned on Monday demanding a recount “polling station by polling station”. “I can not violate the law”, said Bongo in a pre-recorded interview for France’s RTL radio, aired Wednesday. The president did not elaborate.
Ping, also speaking to Europe-1, dismissed the accusations and called for global help in determining “the truth”.
Ping on Friday declared himself the rightful victor of the vote.
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.
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 African Union said it would send a delegation to Gabon likely to be led by Chad’s Idriss Deby, one of Africa’s longest-ruling presidents and the current chair of the pan-African body.
It is hard to independently verify reports of deaths, as the internet has been shut off since August 31.
Asked about the possibility of forming a unity government with the opposition, Bongo said it was premature to discuss such a move.
The AFP news agency says post-election chaos has claimed at least six lives in Gabon, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967.
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The opposition’s estimate of 50 to 100 killed in the protests is based on reports from residents around the country, Ping’s spokesman, Jean Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi, told The Associated Press. It also disputes Bongo’s 2009 election victory shortly after the death of his father, Omar Bongo.
