The small African nation of Gabon is voting on Saturday in its first government elections since a navy coup in 2023 ended the 50-year dynastic rule of the Bongo political household.
Brice Clotaite Oligui Nguema, coup leader-turned-transition president, is the principle candidate amongst 4 opponents and is broadly anticipated to win the elections, regardless of controversial reforms he has put into place that specialists say had been tailor-made to make him eligible for the vote.
Situated in West-central Africa, on the Atlantic coast, Gabon is wealthy in extractives like crude oil. The nation, with a inhabitants of two.2 million, can be a part of the very important Congo Basin and boasts thousands and thousands of acres of rainforest replete with styles of plant and animal species.
Nevertheless, these pure assets haven’t translated into any significant distribution of wealth, as one household and a small political elite have dominated the nation for the previous 5 a long time. The opposition is weak, specialists say; the press is basically toothless; and Gabonese are distrustful of politicians.
Situated proper on the equator, Gabon’s lingua franca is French, and native languages embody Fang, Mbere and several other others. Libreville, the breezy coastal capital, is the biggest metropolis, adopted by the port city of Port-Gentil.
Right here’s what to know concerning the vote:
When is the vote — and the way did Gabon get right here?
- The presidential vote can be held within the nation’s 9 provinces on Saturday, April 12, from 7:30am to 6pm native time (06:30-17:00 GMT).
- Campaigns started on March 29 and can finish on April 11. Voting is necessary for adults.
- The election is being held a number of months earlier than an August 2025 deadline the navy initially introduced after the August 30, 2023, coup that ended the rule of former President Ali Bongo Ondimba (2009 – 2023).
- The coup, a part of a wave of navy takeovers on the continent, occurred on the identical day the outcomes of presidential elections had been launched. Ondimba was declared the winner with 60 % of the vote for a 3rd time period. The opposition, led by Albert Ondo Ossa of the Alternate Celebration, disputed the elections.
- Ondimba took over after the dying of President Omar Bongo, his father (1967-2009). Between them, the father-son duo dominated Gabon for 56 years.
- Legislative elections haven’t been introduced. At present, the bicameral homes are staffed with representatives appointed by the navy authorities.
Who’s working?
4 candidates, all male, have been permitted by the electoral faculty.
All are working independently. That’s as a result of the candidates need to distance themselves from the previous governing Gabonese Democratic Celebration (PDG), Douglas Yates, a professor on the American Graduate Faculty in Paris, instructed Al Jazeera. The PDG has been in energy since 1967 with little opposition and represents the one actually established celebration.
Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema (50): As head of the Royal Guard, Nguema led the coup that overthrew former President Ali Bongo, who can be his cousin, on August 30, 2023.
The navy basic beforehand served as aide-de-camp to Omar Bongo earlier than he was posted abroad to the embassies in Morocco and Senegal. He thereafter returned to steer the elite Royal Guard that protects the president, a submit he saved till seizing energy.
Following the coup, Nguema promised at hand over to a civilian authorities inside two years. He has been praised for shifting quickly in the direction of that transition versus navy authorities counterparts within the West African nations of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea. He’s additionally managed to keep up ties with Gabon’s former colonial chief, France, whereas the others have actively lower ties with France.
A brand new structure affirming strict two-term limits was handed following a November referendum.
Nguema is promising to “elevate” and rework Gabon economically. He has cleaned up his navy picture because the coup, sporting suave fits and T-shirts in his packed, vibrant marketing campaign rallies. In a single, he was seen moonwalking on stage to loud applause from his supporters.
Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze (57): In a rustic the place the opposition has traditionally been weak on account of a long time of elections broadly considered as rigged, Bilie-By-Nze poses the largest problem to Nguema.
The profession politician, in contrast to a lot of his extra elite counterparts, comes from a low-income background. In 2015, he entered politics and went on to serve in a number of ministerial positions beneath Ali Bongo. He was prime minister till the 2023 coup.
Backed by his Collectively for Gabon political group, Bilie-By-Nze has chosen a low-key door-to-door marketing campaign within the lead-up to the election. He has tried to underplay his function within the earlier authorities – even criticising the previous ruling PDG celebration, which he was part of till 2023. His guarantees of “one other Gabon” embody a concentrate on city renewal, higher medical health insurance and general financial development.
Nevertheless, specialists say it’s powerful for a lot of voters to belief him.
“Regardless of his efforts to distance himself from his previous, all people is aware of that he was the final prime minister of Ali Bongo, and due to this fact is tarnished,” Yates stated.
Stephane Germain Iloko Boussengui: The medical physician, popularly often known as Iloko, was as soon as a spokesperson for the previous ruling PDG celebration earlier than its downfall within the coup. He fashioned the Collectively for Gabon group with By-Nze, however the two males clashed, resulting in Iloko’s exit in March.
His rallies are vibrant: In a single marketing campaign occasion in Libreville, Iloko wore conventional wrappers and danced along with his supporters, who sported T-shirts along with his photographs on them.
Regardless of his political previous, Iloko claimed to be a “candidate for the individuals oppressed for 56 years” in an interview with native publication L’Union.
He claimed he tried to proper issues prior to now authorities however was usually shut down. Now, he’s promising to offer jobs and construct roads and colleges, significantly in rural areas. He additionally needs to scale back authorities spending and improve academics’ welfare. As a staunch critic of the navy authorities, Iloko has referred to as for the institution of an unbiased electoral fee, saying the brand new structure established in November grants the president an excessive amount of energy.
Joseph Lapensee Essingone (53): A technocrat, Essingone is a director on the nation’s Directorate of Taxes. Educated in Gabon and France, he has introduced himself as a brand new face in politics with no ties to the contaminated previous administrations.
Essingone says he needs to “rupture” the present political system and usher in financial reforms. He has promised an finish to the mismanagement of assets and dangerous governance if elected.
A continuation of the Bongo regime?
Nguema is poised to win the elections, analysts agree.
His supporters have praised him for taking steps in the direction of civilian rule, together with:
- Final April, he referred to as for a one-month “Inclusive Nationwide Dialogue” that included civil society and diaspora members as one of many steps to return to civilian rule.
- He has overseen the writing of a brand new structure that affirms strict two-term limits. Earlier than the elections, Nguema has additionally touted infrastructure initiatives he has launched into since changing into the chief: The development of greater than 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) of latest roads and the distribution of greater than 400 taxi automobiles to individuals to generate employment.
Nevertheless, his critics are fast to level out that Nguema stays a part of the identical institution that has dominated Gabon for many years and reportedly additionally reaped wealth from these ties.
- They argue that the Nationwide Dialogue largely included navy delegates.
- His transitional cupboard has additionally included some Bongo-era officers, critics additional level out, and Ali Bongo’s PDG has endorsed his candidature.
- Whereas Gabonese guidelines don’t permit transitional presidents to run for workplace, the brand new structure handed in November allowed that. Critics say it was designed for Nguema to run, though it barred some established opposition leaders on account of age necessities.
- The structure additionally transferred the coordination of elections to the Ministry of Inside as an alternative of an unbiased fee.
“As we’ve seen with different navy seizures of energy in Africa in recent times, these transitions are accompanied by declining ranges of civil liberties, political participation and transparency,” analyst Hany Wahila of the United States-based Africa Heart for Strategic Research instructed Al Jazeera.
“Those that’ve criticised the navy regime in Gabon have been the goal of intimidation. What we’re seeing, due to this fact, resembles extra a continuation of the prevailing unequal course of reasonably than progress,” she added.
Nonetheless, the truth that Nguema has moved ahead on his election guarantees and kickstarted infrastructure growth is progress, Yates of the American Graduate Faculty in Paris stated. The choice, Yates stated, would have saved Gabon caught.
“His most evident high quality is that, in contrast to the younger man who was being groomed to inherit the Bongo dynastic fortune, Oligui Nguema really lives in Gabon,” Yates stated.
He was referring to Ali Bongo’s London-based first son, 33-year-old Noureddin Bongo, who’s presently beneath home arrest in Gabon on prices of treason and fraud, alongside along with his mom and French nationwide, Sylvia Bongo. Nguema’s new structure has barred individuals of twin nationality from working for the presidency, a transfer many imagine is aimed on the Bongo inheritor. Ali Bongo himself was launched from detention shortly after the coup and stays within the capital.
Gabon’s democracy could but be younger, however it’s on its manner, Yates added.
“So far as being a ‘true democracy’, I want to measure that idea on an ordinal scale from ‘extra’ to ‘much less’ democracy. Right here, the measurement has improved,” he stated.
What else?
- Outcomes can be introduced inside two weeks of the vote.
- Analysts say the chance of a “free and honest” election in Gabon is dim on account of its historical past of vote rigging.
- There are additionally issues about violence. In 2016, opposition protests broke out after Ali Bongo was introduced the winner.
- In 2023, the coup occurred as tensions started to rise within the nation, though violence had not damaged out.
