The National Woodcutters Rally–Rally for Gabon (, RNB–RPG) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

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 ...

History

The party was established in 1990 as Movement for National Rectification–Woodcutters (''Mouvement de redressement national–Bûcherons'', MORENA–Bûcherons), a breakaway from the Movement for National Rectification. In the 1990 parliamentary elections it won 20 of the 120 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, becoming the largest opposition party. In February 1991 it was renamed "National Woodcutters Rally" (RNB).Tom Lansford (2015) ''Political Handbook of the World 2015'', CQ Press The RNB nominated Paul Mba Abessole as its candidate for the 1993 presidential elections; He finished second with 26.5% of the vote. Although it won a majority of the contested seats in the 1996 local elections, the party was reduced to seven seats in the 1996 parliamentary elections. However, the following year Mba Abessole was elected mayor of

Libreville Libreville (; ) is the capital and largest city of Gabon, located on the Gabon Estuary. Libreville occupies of the northwestern province of Estuaire Province, Estuaire. Libreville is also a port on the Gabon Estuary, near the Gulf of Guinea. A ...

, where the RNB had a majority on the municipal council. In 1998 the party split, with a faction led by Pierre-André Kombila leaving to form the National Woodcutters' Rally – Democratic. In the

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later in the year, Mba Abessole finished third with 13% of the vote and Kombila fourth with 1.5%. In 2000 the party adopted the name "Rally for Gabon", but was referred to as National Woodcutters Rally–Rally for Gabon. In the 2001 parliamentary elections the party gained a seat, giving it a total of eight. The RNB–RPG did not nominate a candidate for the 2005 presidential elections, and contested the 2006 parliamentary elections as part of the pro-PDG bloc, retaining its eight seats.Elections in Gabon
African Elections Database Although Mba Abessole was selected as the party's candidate for the 2009 presidential elections, he later withdrew in favour of independent candidate André Mba Obame. The party was reduced to three seats in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

Senate elections

References