Gabon: President Re-elected, Opposition Cries Fraud

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo has won re-election, according to members of the country’s electoral commission, but critics are denouncing the result as fraudulent.  

VOA’s Idrissa Fall, who is at the election commission headquarters, reports that some members of the electoral commission resigned Wednesday, and protests over the results broke out in the capital city of Libreville.

Bongo’s main opponent Jean Ping has said his campaign has evidence the election was rigged and plans to present it to Gabon’s constitutional court.

The official results, set to be formally announced, show Bongo winning 49.8 percent of the votes, with Ping at 48.2 percent.

At issue are the results from one province where the results show nearly 100 percent voter turnout, with Bongo receiving 95 percent of the votes.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for Gabon to remain peaceful in the aftermath of the hotly-contested poll.  Both candidates had declared victory after Saturday’s vote, and each side accused the other of fraud during the vote count.

Gabon does not have a run-off system, so the candidate with the most votes in the 10-candidate field wins the election.

Ping was running to end a half-century of Bongo family rule. Ali Bongo succeeded his father Omar Bongo who died in 2009 after 42 years in office.

Idriss Fall and VOA Afrique contributed to this report [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Science and Technology


 

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