Ali Bongo Ondimba
Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959),"Bongo Ali", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir'', number 4Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . sometimes known as Ali Bongo, is a Gabonese politician who has been the third president of Ga ...
ran for re-election and was challenged by former
Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
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 ...
after the results were announced.Gabon election: Protests as Ali Bongo beats Jean Ping Al Jazeera, 31 August 2016 Irregularities such as Haut-Ogoou showing that 99.9% of the electorate had voted and Bongo had received 95.5% of the votes led to observers questioning the conduct of the election.
Electoral system
The
President of Gabon
The president of Gabon is the head of state of Gabon. A total of three people have served as president (not counting two acting presidents) since the post was formed in 1960.
Description of the office
Election
The president of the republic is ...
is elected for a seven-year term in a single round of voting by plurality; whichever candidate places first is deemed elected, regardless of whether the candidate secured an absolute majority of votes. This system is thought to be a disadvantage to the fractious opposition, which would appear to have little chance of winning unless it unites behind a single candidate.Gabon’s President Ali Bongo to seek second term in office France 24, 29 February 2016
Candidates
Nineteen prospective candidates submitted applications to stand, and the Autonomous and Permanent National Electoral Commission (CENAP) announced on 15 July 2016 that fourteen of them had been deemed eligible. Gaboneco, 16 July 2016 President
Ali Bongo Ondimba
Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959),"Bongo Ali", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir'', number 4Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . sometimes known as Ali Bongo, is a Gabonese politician who has been the third president of Ga ...
announced in
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. Nea ...
on 29 February 2016 that he would stand for re-election. CENAP approved the candidacy of President Bongo despite a long-standing controversy about his eligibility; his opponents claimed that he was not Gabonese by birth and was an adopted rather than biological son of
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 ...
. Due to the presence of representatives of the opposition, there was no consensus regarding Bongo's candidacy, and it was therefore approved by majority vote.
Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou
Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou (born 8 April 1952) is a Gabonese politician who served as Vice President of Gabon from 2017 to 2019. He is the President of the Social Democratic Party.
Life and career
Born to a Punu familyFranck Salin"Pierre C ...
of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
,
Augustin Moussavou King
Augustin Moussavou King (born 12 October 1959) is a Gabonese politician and the President of the Gabonese Socialist Party (PSG).
Running as the PSG candidate in the presidential election held on 27 November 2005, he finished fourth out of five ca ...
of the
Gabonese Socialist Party
The Gabonese Socialist Party (french: Parti Socialiste Gabonais, PSG) is a small political party in Gabon.
History
The party was established in 1991, and merged into the African Forum for Reconstruction the following year.
In 2006 the party's ...
Bruno Ben Moubamba
Bruno Ben Moubamba (born 1967) is a Gabonese politician. As an opposition leader, he stood as a candidate in the 2009 and 2016 presidential elections in Gabon. He served in the government as Minister of Housing from 2016 to 2017.
Early life
Ben ...
horse trading
Horse trading, in its literal sense, is the buying and selling of horses, also called "horse dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the sale of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty, l ...
whose only aim is to share out privilege and power".
As the main opposition leaders had served prominently under Omar Bongo (and then gone into opposition after his death), Ping was characterized as the candidate of "the old guard of Bongo senior's cronies". Having already been abandoned by many of Omar Bongo's top associates in 2009, Bongo was undermined in subsequent years by the continuing defection of prominent politicians from the ruling
The election was held on 27 August 2016. On the day after the elections, Ping declared victory and said that he was "waiting for the outgoing president to call to congratulate me", although no results had been officially announced. Only the electoral commission was legally permitted to announce results, and the Minister of the Interior,
Pacôme Moubelet-Boubeya
Pacôme Moubelet-Boubeya (born 12 March 1963) is a Gabonese politician. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Gabon from 2020 to 2022, he previously served in the same role from 2016 to 2017. He also was Minister of the Interior from 20 ...
* – The European Union (EU) observer mission condemned the violence and reported various anomalies in the election process. The EU observers noted an anomaly in voter turnout in various areas, stating that it was unnaturally high. The EU requested that the government make the results more transparent and release results from each polling station.
* – Prime Minister
Manuel Valls
Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...
said a public recount of the vote should be held to verify the original results. France also showed concern for its citizens living in Gabon based on the numerous arrests conducted in the country.
*
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
– The African Union (AU) condemned the violence in the country and committed to send a delegation to mediate the post election violence with high-level members led by
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
deplored the violence and loss of life during the protests and requested both parties reduce inflammatory messages against each other and find a peaceful solution to end the violence.
* – Washington remained concerned with the way mass arrests were conducted in the country and supported the high-level AU mediation team.
Aftermath
Following the announcement of official results, protests broke out in Libreville on 31 August, with attempts made to storm the election commission's offices. Police were out in force and tried to disperse the protesters. The
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
building was set on fire later in the day. The following day, Ping claimed that the presidential guard had bombed his party's headquarters, killing two people. By 2 September at least five people had been killed in the capital and 1,000 more has been arrested. The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
expressed "deep concern" about the violence. Along with France and the United States, it called for de-escalation on both sides of the dispute and pressed for more transparent detail on the vote outcome.
Although he had previously criticized the Constitutional Court for allegedly favoring the government, Ping appealed the results to the Court on 8 September, hoping to force a recount in Haut-Ogooue Province. Ping warned on 9 September that if the Court did not rule in favor of a recount, "profound and sustained instability" could follow.Gerauds Wilfried Obangome "Gabon faces 'sustained instability' if no presidential vote recount: Ping" Reuters, 9 September 2016.
The Constitutional Court announced its ruling—anxiously awaited by a public mindful of the prospect of further violence—at around midnight on the night of 23–24 September, upholding Bongo's victory. The Court annulled votes cast at 21 Libreville polling stations,"Gabon court rejects opposition challenge to presidential poll result" Reuters, 23 September 2016.Ruth Maclean "Gabon court rules president Ali Bongo rightful winner of September election" ''The Guardian'', 23 September 2016. while lowering Bongo's disputed score in Haut-Ogooue to 83.2% (on a 98% turnout). In the modified final results, Bongo's overall score increased slightly to 50.66%. The Court noted that it was impossible to physically recount the individual votes because they had already been destroyed. It also dismissed a request for Ping to be barred from running for President for 10 years for allegedly inciting his supporters to violence in the wake of the announcement of results.
Bongo promptly called for the opposition to participate in a dialogue. Anticipating possible violence, security forces were deployed to key points around Libreville, but the city reportedly remained calm on 24 September. On the same day, Ping branded the Court's ruling as "unjust" and vowed that "we will ensure the choice of the Gabonese people is respected." Meanwhile, Bongo said in an interview that he hoped to form an inclusive government that could include opposition leaders. He also said that the involvement of the international community in mediating the dispute was not necessary: "Among Gabonese, we know how to talk to each other."
Bongo was
sworn in
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...
for another term as President on 27 September 2016. He appointed Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet, a diplomat who previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Prime Minister on 28 September. Ping said on 29 September that he would hold an "inclusive national dialogue ... to put in place the foundations of a new republic" and called for international sanctions to be imposed on those responsible for allegedly rigging the election.
A new government headed by Issoze Ngondet was appointed on 2 October 2016. Despite Bongo's earlier statements about forming an inclusive government, representatives of the opposition were largely absent; although
Bruno Ben Moubamba
Bruno Ben Moubamba (born 1967) is a Gabonese politician. As an opposition leader, he stood as a candidate in the 2009 and 2016 presidential elections in Gabon. He served in the government as Minister of Housing from 2016 to 2017.
Early life
Ben ...
, who placed a distant third in the election, was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister, no one associated with Jean Ping was included in the 40-member government."Gabon unveils 'inclusive' government after poll violence" , Agence France-Presse, 3 October 2016. Ping's supporters ridiculed the claims that the government would be "inclusive", while observers noted the lack of any meaningful opposition participation."One-man dialogues" ''Africa Confidential'', volume 57, number 20, 7 October 2016.