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Gabon

Bongo 'must respect the ballot box' - opposition

Chaos continues in Gabon after President Ali Bongo was re-elected in polls that the oppositions says were fraudulent. On Thursday, Gabonese national police announced that they had arrested 1,000 people since the start to the violence.

Incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba (left) faced off with opposition candidate Jean Ping (R) in a contested election.
Incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba (left) faced off with opposition candidate Jean Ping (R) in a contested election. RFI
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Opposition presidential candidate Jean Ping spoke to RFI from a safe location and declared his determination to see Ali Bongo give up power.

Violence erupted in Gabon after incumbent president Ali Bongo was announced the winner by a narrow margin on Wednesday.

Opposition leader Jean Ping’s supporters held nation-wide protests. The ruling party accused them of looting and setting fire to the parliament building.

In a speech on Thursday, President Bongo declared that “democracy doesn’t sit well with an attack on parliament” - a clear jab at his opponent and his supporters, who “he accused of planning coordinated attacks on state symbols.”

Ping took refuge in an undisclosed safe location after Gabonese security forces stormed his headquarters early Thursday morning. He said two people were shot and killed during the raid.

In an interview with RFI from his safehouse, Ping continues to dispute Ali Bongo’s win and vows to end the Bongo dynasty.

“Ali Bongo needs to understand that he can’t stay in power forever using the same strategy: cheating, killing and stealing”, Ping said. “[The Bongo family] has already been in power for half a century. He needs to realize to respect the ballot box and the wishes of the Gabonese people.”

The official election results said that Bongo took home 49.8% of the vote, while Ping won 48.2%. This means that Bongo only won by a slim margin of 5,594 votes.

However, Ping has cried foul on results from Bongo’s home province. Official results said there was a 99.93% turnout with 95% voting for Ali Bongo.

The US and EU have also called for the results to be made public, while French president Francois Hollande and UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon condemned the violence.

Cailin Birch, a political analyst specialising in West Africa who works with the Economist Intelligence Unit, says that this election is an indicator not of Ping’s support, but of wide discontent with the Bongo government.

“Jean Ping didn’t have have the support of other opposition candidates until about ten days before the election,” Birch said. “That didn’t really leave time to communicate a single opposition platform and mobilize voters.

So, for me, that says that the really strong vote for Jean Ping is more of an anti-government vote, an anti Ali Bongo vote and anti-PDG [Parti Démocratique Gabonaise, the ruling party] vote.”

There were some protests and violence when Ali Bongo was first elected in 2009. Birch says that falling oil prices have hit Gabon hard, making it hard for Ali Bongo’s government to advance on ambitious development projects.

“I think that this election does reflect frustrations with the slow pace of infrastructure building and particularly for the reform of public services, notably health and education, that’s been building over recent years,” Birch added.

This discontent may have fueled opposition votes and it may also be why so many people have taken to the streets since the announcement of the election results.

Ping also has many important international supporters. He made a lot of contacts while serving as the chairperson for the Commission of the African Union and president of the United Nations General Assembly.

Importantly, he has the support of France, says Omar Ba, a PhD candidate at the University of Florida and a contributing editor to the blog Africa is a Country.

“The French socialist party, which is the party of François Hollande, issued a statement before election results were announced stating their support for Ping,” Ba said. “A lot of the members of the French political class are still backing Jean Ping. Unlike his father, Ali Bongo doesn’t have the backing of these French politicians. Ali Bongo’s relationship with France has been rocky.”

For Ba, having this French support is crucial to a victory in Gabon, even though the era of Francafrique is technically over.

Still, even with France’s backing, Ba says it is hard to know where Ping will go from this point. He also wonders how Gabon can avoid further unrest.

“A way out of this would be if the electoral commission and if the Gabonese authorities would agree to a recount of the votes and a publication of the results from each polling station”, Ba says. “Whoever the victor is, this would inspire confidence. Otherwise, Ping’s legal recourse would be to go to the Constitutional Court, but that would be a hopeless bid”.

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