Despite a bitter campaign, election day was peaceful.
Advertisement
Ping said there had been report of hoodlums breaking into the area surrounding the parliament building in Libreville and started a fire, while the home of Deputy Prime Minister Paul Biyoghe-Mba was also set on fire.
The 57-year-old Bongo won with 49.8 percent of the vote, while the 73-year-old Ping had 48.2 percent, according to the electoral commission’s provisional results.
Opposition supporters greeted the election result with anger.
“This victory by such a tight score obliges.each of us to respect the verdict of the ballot box and our institutions”, Bongo said in the text of a speech distributed to reporters.
Several Libreville residents said social media, including Facebook and Twitter, were no longer functioning. The claim could not immediately be independently verified. Opposition suspicions were heightened when the release of results was delayed earlier in the week.
Smoke and flames are seen billowing from the National Assembly building in Libreville after it was set ablaze on August 31, 2016 by demonstrators protesting after Gabon’s president Ali Bongo was declared victor of last weekend’s contested election.
Any appeal by Ping would likely focus on disputed results in Haut-Ogooue province, the heartland of Bongo’s Teke ethnic group.
Bongo took power in 2009 in a violence-marred election that followed the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had governed the oil-rich former French colony for 41 years. He benefited from an engrained patronage system lubricated by oil money ahead of the vote.
Analysts have said that if the election had been free and open, Bongo could very well have lost to his rival, a quiet former diplomat and the son of a Chinese businessman.
Former colonial ruler France’s foreign ministry said the manner in which the final results were announced on Wednesday was a source of concern.
“Confidence in the election results can only be restored by a transparent verification polling station by polling station”, she continued.
The statement was echoed by the US Department of State, which urged all sides to “temper their rhetoric and encourage their supporters to remain calm”.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Amnesty International called on security forces to exercise restraint.
The president of the opposition National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, who was inside the besieged building, said security forces were hurling tear gas canisters and had opened fire.
Gunfire could be heard across the city as plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as anti-government protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces leaving at least six people injured.
Advertisement
Ping, a political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of the late president and fathered two children with his daughter.
