Gabon
Gabonese ruling party wins first poll round

afrol News, 15 December - According to preliminary results from the Gabonese legislative elections, the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) so far not has secured its absolute majority in the National Assembly. The second poll round on 23 December gives a narrow hope for an opposition takeover.

The French news agency AFP yesterday reported from Libreville that the PDG was set to win 52 of the 120 parliamentary seats after the 9 December first poll round. Several seats however remained contested, opening for the possibility that the PDG could gain majority in a second round. AFP bases its report on a statement by the National Electoral Commission. 

So far, only three opposition candidates had secured their seats in the National Assembly, the remaining 65 seats to be contested on a second poll round on 23 December. The opposition is expected to unite forces to compete with the PDG in the second poll round, but the 1996 legislative elections, where the first round had been even more unclear, ended in a great victory for the PDG in the second round.

The results presented by the electoral commission are however preliminary. Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, President of the Gabonese Constitutional Court, said the final results from the first round would be presented on Monday. 

According to international observers, the elections had been marked by "insufficiencies in organisation" and were not carried out in accordance with the legal basis for the organisation of elections. Several poll stations had not observed the officially set opening hours and others did not have sufficient voting material, the observers complained. 

Opposition leader Pierre Mamboundou reportedly already has called for a re-election, reacting to the critics by the international observers and other reports indicating electoral fraud favouring the PDG.

In general, the opposition is pessimistic about the second poll round, assuming President Bongo's party will not allow any opposition victory. Opposition politician Pierre Louis Agondjo Okawe already has warned about a "return of the one-party-system" following the total PDG victory he expects after 23 December. 

In the last legislative elections, in 1996, candidates belonging to the PDG and other parties supporting President Bongo had won more than 80 of the 120 parliamentary seats. This included 8 of 10 seats from the capital, where the opposition recently had won fairer local government elections. 

The turnout at the elections was reported to be very low. At a national basis, only 44 percent had given their vote. A record low was registered in the capital, Libreville, where only 17.3 percent had voted. 

A boycott campaign promoted by various opposition parties could have contributed strongly to this, observers hold. Turnout was observed as being lowest in opposition strongholds, such as Libreville and the economic capital Port-Gentil.

After President Bongo reluctantly introduced multi-party elections in 1990, he has not been seriously challenged by the opposition, which has had great difficulties in establishing itself in a society well controlled by President Bongo and his Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). 

Pierre Mamboundou, heading an opposition coalition, stood against Bongo in the December 1998 presidential elections, where he won 17 percent of the votes. In these elections, widespread fraud favouring Bongo was documented. This included incomplete and inaccurate electoral lists and the use of false documents to cast votes. 

According to US government sources, elections for the presidency and the National Assembly since 1990 generally "have not been free and fair but have varied widely in quality; some suffered chiefly from poor organization, while others were fraudulent." 

Sources: Based on US govt., AFP and afrol archives

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