General elections were held in

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

on 26 August 2023. Incumbent president Ali Bongo ran for re-election, representing the

Gabonese Democratic Party The Gabonese Democratic Party (, PDG) is a political party in Gabon. It was the dominant political party in Gabonese politics from 1961 until 2023, when it was deposed in a coup d'état against President Ali Bongo. It was also the sole legal ...

, which had ruled the country continuously since its independence from France in 1960, including 41 years under Bongo's father, Omar. Bongo was declared the winner on 30 August. However, a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

began shortly afterward, leading to the election results being annulled.

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

and departmental elections were held the same day.

Background

The previous presidential election was held on 27 August 2016. On the day after the elections, opposition leader

Jean Ping Jean Ping (; born 24 November 1942)
Pacôme Moubelet-Boubeya, accused Ping of "attempt ngto manipulate the democratic process," while Bongo said that "you must not sell the skin of the bear before you've killed him." Nevertheless, Bongo's spokesman, Alain Claude Bilie By Nzé, asserted that Bongo was ahead and would be re-elected. Official results were scheduled to be announced on 30 August, but on that date it was stated that the announcement would be delayed by a few hours. Results were finally announced on 31 August, showing a narrow victory for Bongo, who won 49.8% of the vote against 48.2% for Ping. Turnout was placed at 59.5%. The opposition's representatives on the electoral commission refused to confirm the results, and they were therefore confirmed by a vote in which the opposition members abstained. Ping's supporters maintained that the mostly complete results they had independently collected showed their candidate beating Bongo by a large margin, 59% to 38%.Gerauds Wilfried Obangome
"Gabon's President Bongo re-elected, parliament set on fire"
, Reuters, 31 August 2016. Notably, the official results from Haut-Ogooue (the Bongo family's native province) showed Bongo receiving 95.5% of the vote on an alleged 99.9% turnout, an improbable result sparking widespread protests. Bongo, noting that the vote was close, stressed the importance of peacefully respecting this outcome. Following the announcement of official results, protests broke out in Libreville on 31 August, with attempts made to storm the election commission's offices.Gabon election: Protests as Ali Bongo beats Jean Ping
Al Jazeera, 31 August 2016 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 had been arrested. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

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.

Opposition call for fair elections

On 12 December 2022, the entire Gabonese opposition gathered in Libreville for the start of a series of meetings in view of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections. This meeting, at the call of the National Union, brought together fifty parties, including civil society leaders. The meeting was meant to put pressure on the government to reform the electoral process, and remind the public authorities of the need for consultation with the opposition. For Paulette Missambo, president of National Union, urgent reforms were needed in order to ensure a fair election.

Electoral system

The

President of Gabon The president of Gabon () is the head of state and Head of government, government of Gabon. A total of three people have served as president (not counting the collective head of state, one disputed president, three acting presidents and one tra ...

is elected for a five-year term (reduced from seven years in April 2023) in a single round of voting by

plurality Plurality may refer to: Law and politics * Plurality decision, in a decision by a multi-member court, an opinion held by more judges than any other but not by an overall majority * Plurality (voting), when a candidate or proposition polls more ...

; 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 The 143 members of the National Assembly are elected from single-member constituencies using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. The elections were held using

double simultaneous vote Double simultaneous vote (DSV) is an electoral system in which multiple offices – such as the president and members of a legislature – are elected through a single vote cast for a party. It can be combined with other electoral systems; in Ur ...

system, with voters casting a single ballot for their preferred candidate for president and National Assembly.

Candidates

20 candidates were approved by the Gabonese electoral congress for the 2023 presidential election.

Jean Ping Jean Ping (; born 24 November 1942)
chair of the African Union Commission who received 48% of the vote in the 2016 presidential election, declined to stand, saying "I cannot be a candidate in an election that is a foregone conclusion".

Conduct

The government announced the indefinite restriction of internet access and a nightly curfew on the evening of the election following the end of voting. The same day, the government suspended broadcasts of French media channels

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

, RFI, and

TV5Monde TV5Monde (), formerly known as TV5, is a French public television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union. The network is available across ...

Results

President

The national electoral body announced on Wednesday, 30 August, that President Ali Bongo Ondimba, already in office for 14 years, won re-election for a third term with 64.27 percent of the vote. According to Michel Stephane Bonda, head of the Gabonese Elections Centre, on state television, Bongo defeated his major competitor Albert Ondo Ossa, who received 30.77 percent of the vote, in a single round of voting, while 12 other candidates split the remaining votes. The voter turnout was 56.65%.

National Assembly

The results of the elections for the Parliament of Gabon were unclear following the

four days after the general election.

Aftermath

After

Ali Bongo Ondimba Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain-Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959) also known as Ali Ben Bongo is a Gabonese former politician and dictator who was the third president of Gabon from 2009 until he was deposed in a 2023 Gabonese coup d'état, coup in 2 ...

's election victory was announced, a military-led coup took place, which annulled the results of the election. The coup occurred just minutes after Bongo's re-election was declared at 3:30 am

WAT A wat (, ; , ; , ; ; , ) is a type of Buddhist and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State (Myanmar), Yunnan (China), the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Etymology The word ''wat'' is borrowed from the Sanskrit ''v ...

by the Gabonese electoral commission with 64.27% of the vote. During a televised morning address from the Presidential Palace in Libreville on the state channel Gabon 24, around a dozen military personnel announced the end of the existing regime, with a military spokesperson claiming to be speaking on behalf of a " Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions," citing "irresponsible, unpredictable governance" that had led to "a continuous degradation of social cohesion, risking pushing the country into chaos." They announced the annulment of the recent election, the dissolution of state institutions, and the closure of the country's borders. Internet access, which had been cut since the election, was reported to have been restored. Among the officers seen during the announcement were

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

colonels and members of the

Republican Guard A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...

. Following the announcement of the coup, celebrations broke out in the streets of Libreville and in other cities across the country. A

constitutional referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or advis ...

was held in November 2024.

References

{{Gabonese elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Presidential elections in Gabon Parliamentary elections in Gabon Annulled elections