Presidential, Legislative And Municipal Elections To Hold In Gabon On Saturday, August 26, 2023

Presidential, Legislative And Municipal Elections To Hold In Gabon On Saturday, August 26, 2023

Incumbent presidential candidate, President Ali Bongo, assures supporters that they will win

Constitutional Council rejects candidature of President Bongo‘s uncle for presidential election

President Bongo;s uncle vows that the fight has just started

The Bongo Family has been in power in Gabon since 1967. PDG too has been the ruling party in Gabon for 56 years, and is certain to stay on after next weekend’s elections

The people of neighbouring Gabon will go to the polls next weekend, precisely on Saturday, August 26, 2023 for the joined Presidential, legislative and municipal elections. Political observers expect the ruling “Parti Democratique Gabonais’, PDG, that is, the Gabonese Democratic Party, to win all the elections. That is, win the presidential election, as well as win the majority parliamentary seats and municipal councils in the legislative and municipal elections respectively.
The PDG is thus certain to continue as the ruling party in Gabon after the August 26 elections. For one thing, the ruling party and Government that have been in power for as long as 56 years today, have a firm control over all the institutions, including the Constitutional Council, officially charged with the organization of the elections, the handling of electoral disputes, and the proclamation of the results of the elections.

There Are As Many As 19 Presidential Candidates

The incumbent for the presidential election, President Ali Bongo Ondimba, officially launched campaign for his re-election early this week at Owendo, a municipality in the neighbourhood of the Gabon’s capital, Libreville. He boastfully told supporters at the campaign rally comprised of militants of the ruling PDG as well as members of ‘Majorite Republicaine et Sociale pour L’Emergence’ , that is the Presidential Majority, that: “Cette election, nous la gagneons’, meaning that they are going to win the election. Of course he knew what he was saying.

Opposition, Not Helping Matters

Political observers agree that the opposition in Gabon too do not help matters, by going into the presidential election in dispersed rang. There are as many as 19 candidates going in for the August 26 presidential elections in Gabon. This means that in principle 18 opposition candidates will face the incumbent, Ali Bongo., in the one round presidential election. A situation that plays in favour of the incumbent candidate, as opposition votes will be divided. There is of course no doubt that some of the candidates passing for opposition, are in reality, not of the opposition. We also have such a situation in Cameroon.

President Bongo’s Uncle Quits Presidential Majority, Announces Candidature

Meanwhile one of the big drama and scandal that has been recorded in the 2023 presidential election race in Gabon, has been about President Ali Bongo and his uncle, Jean Boniface Assele, who is the National President of ‘Cercle du Liberaux Reformateurs’, CLR Party.
The CRL Party of Jean Boniface Assele was ‘naturally’ for many years a member of the Presidential Majority in Gabon. But last June, Assele and his CLR left the Presidential Majority. The real reason behind the decision by Assele, and his party to leave the Presidential majority, is not clear.
Whatever the case, Jean Boniface Assele, soon announced his candidature for the August 26, 2023 Presidential Election. He was to be the presidential candidate of his CRL Party. As expected, that created a lot of excitement and anxiety in Gabon, of having to see an uncle and his nephew who is the incumbent in the presidential election, clash at the election.

Constitutional Council Rejects Candidature

Bu then the Electoral Commission in Gabon rejected the file of the presidential candidate of CLR, Jean Boniface Assele, for some flimsy reasons. Assele petitioned the Constitutional Council. Two weeks ago the Constitutional Council ruled on the matter, and validated the decision to reject the candidature of Assele for the August 26 presidential election. The ridiculous pretext given by the Constitutional Council for the rejection of the candidature of Jean Boniface Assele, the uncle of President Ali Bongo, was that the CLR Party left the Presidential Majority late.
The Electoral Law in Gabon states that is a militant of a political party who wants to leave the party and be a presidential candidate of another party, should formally resign from the political party at least four months before the date of the presidential election. This meant that any person who wanted to leave a political party to join another one, and be its candidate for the upcoming August 26 Presidential Election, had to resign from his former party before April 26, 2023. This article in the Law however has to do with MILITANTS of political parties.

A Scandalous Decision By Constitution

But then in the case of Jean Boniface Assele and his CLR Party, the Constitutional Council of Gabon, scandalously ruled that when political parties form a group, the group of political parties also becomes like a political party. And that consequently, the Article which states that any person that wants to leave a political party to be the presidential candidate of another party, must resign from his previous party at least four months to the date of the presidential election, also applies to politically parties that are members of groups of political parties.

President’s Uncle Vows That The Fight Has Just Started

Reacting to the scandalous claim advanced by the Constitutional Council to reject his candidature, Jean Boniface Assele, the Uncle of President Ali Bongo, cried scandal: “C’est faux. Ce n’est ecrit nulle pas”, (It is false. It is not written anywhere). He questioned how on earth the Constitutional Council could say that a number of political parties that form a group is considered as one political party. And also that the law that applies to a militant of a political party also applies to a political party that is member of group of political parties.
Assele said what happened was a deliberate misinterpretation of the Law by the Constitutional Council, with the objective been to reject his candidature for the presidential election. “I know them’, he said, referring to the regime. This was to tell Gabonese people that he knew that the rejection of his candidature was the handiwork of the regime of his nephew, Ali Bongo.
President Ali Bongo’s uncle, Jean Boniface Assele called on militants of the CLP Party to stay calm following the controversial decision taken by the Constitutional Council, but added that: “La lute ne fait que commecer” (The fight has only just begun”.

“I Still Have Ambitions For Gabon”

Meanwhile President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, formally announced his candidature for the 2023 presidential election, at the last Ordinary Congress of the ruling PDG Party, which held in December 2022. In his address at the congress that THE MENTOR watched live on TV, Ali Bongo praised his ‘achievements’ as President of Gabon in 13 years. He claimed that he had transformed the country’s economy, and that it no longer depends on oil. “Pour le Gabon, j’ai des ambitions encore plus grandes, des tres hautes ambitions” (For Gabon, I still have great ambitions, very high ambitions”.
While officially launching his campaign for re –election at the upcoming August 26, 2023 Presidential Election in Gabon, President Ali Bongo made promises as if he is coming in new, where as he has been in power now for 14 years. He among other things promised to create jobs and to rebuild Gabon.

Family Dynasty In Gabon

As earlier mentioned, the Bongo Family has been in power in Gabon since the 1960s. OmarBongo Ondimba, was born on December 30, 1935. He came to power in Gabon on December 2, 1967, and hung onto power until his death on June 8, 2009. He was succeeded as President by his son, Ali Bongo Ondimba, under the canopy of a fake presidential election. Ali Bongo was minister in his father’s government.
Meanwhile Ali Bongo who has served a two term mandate of 7 years each as President of Gabon, is thus going into the August 26, 2023 Presidential Election, in ‘search’ of a third mandate seven. That is, another seven years.