Presidential elections were held in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

on 6 December 1998. Incumbent

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Omar Bongo El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

, in power since 1967, sought a seven-year term against five other candidates. It was Gabon's second multi-party presidential election and, despite low turnout and polling problems, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote.

Campaign

In late July 1998, the ruling

Gabonese Democratic Party The Gabonese Democratic Party (french: Parti Démocratique Gabonais, abbreviated PDG), is the ruling and dominant political party of Gabon. Between 1968 and 1990 it was the sole legal party. History The party was established as the Gabonese Dem ...

(PDG) called for Bongo to run for re-election, praising him as a "trump card for the third millennium". Also in July, the opposition National Woodcutters' Rally (RNB) split into two factions, one headed by

Paul Mba Abessole Paul Mba Abessole (born October 9, 1939
, ''Afrique Express'', number 244, February 6, 2002 . ...

and one headed by Pierre-Andre Kombila, after Kombila was expelled from the party.

Pierre Mamboundou Pierre Mamboundou (6 November 1946 – 15 October 2011) was a Gabonese politician. He was President of the Union of the Gabonese People (UPG), an opposition party in Gabon, from 1989 to 2011. ACCT career and 1989 events Mamboundou was born in ...

of the

Union of the Gabonese People The Union of the Gabonese People (french: Union du Peuple Gabonais, UPG) is an opposition political party in Gabon. It was led by Pierre Mamboundou until his death in 2011. History Mamboundou announced the UPG's establishment in Paris on 14 Jul ...

(UPG) ran as the candidate of the High Council of the Resistance, a coalition of opposition parties that included the UPG, the

African Forum for Reconstruction The African Forum for Reconstruction (french: Forum Africain pour la Réconstruction, FAR) is a political party in Gabon led by Léon Mbou Yembi. History The party was established in 1992 as a merger of the Gabonese Socialist Party (PSG), the ...

, the Mebiame Group, MORENA–Original and the Socialist Emancipation Movement of the People. The

Gabonese Progress Party The Gabonese Progress Party (french: Parti gabonais du progrès, PGP) is a political party in Gabon. History The PGP was established as a left-leaning party in March 1990, at the beginning of the wave of democratization that swept Africa in the ...

(PGP) of Pierre-Louis Agondjo Okawé supported Mamboundou.

Opinion polls

The publication of opinion polls was prohibited by the National Communication Council during the week immediately preceding the election.

Results

According to final results from the Constitutional Court, Bongo won the election with 66.88% of the vote. Mamboundou officially placed second with 16.54% of the vote."GABON: Opposition calls for strike action to protest election results"
, IRIN-West Africa Update 359, 14 December 1998. Mamboundou denounced the official results as an "electoral coup d'etat" and called on the people to begin a "graduated response" by engaging in a stay at home ("ghost city") protest. Following the election, he alleged that commandos sent by the government tried to kill him on 12 December 1998. While Mamboundou's call for people to stay at home was mostly ignored in

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

Port-Gentil Port-Gentil () or Mandji is the second-largest city of Gabon, and it is a leading seaport. It is the center of Gabon's petroleum and timber industries. The city is located on a delta island in the Ogooue delta with no bridges to the mainland. N ...

was reportedly "paralysed".

Aftermath

Jean-François Ntoutoume Emane Jean-François Ntoutoume Emane (born 6 October 1939Samy Ghorbal"« Nous avons su garder le cap »" ''Jeune Afrique'', 20 November 2005 .) is a Gabonese politician who was Prime Minister of Gabon from 23 January 1999 to 20 January 2006. He was Ma ...

was Bongo's campaign manager during the election, and he was subsequently appointed as Prime Minister in January 1999.New prime minister for Gabon
BBC News, 23 January 1999

References

{{Gabonese elections Presidential elections in Gabon

Presidential Election and referendum articles with incomplete results