Supporters of Albert Ondo Ossa, the principle rival to incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon’s presidential election, on Monday 28 August 2023, urged the pinnacle of state to concede defeat and organise a handover, saying their man had received.
The Alternance 23 opposition platform has swung behind Ondo Ossa, searching for to disclaim Bongo, 64, and the scion of a household that has dominated for 55 years, a 3rd time period.
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Gabonese authorities reduce intenet entry
Saturday noticed the authorities reduce web entry and impose a nighttime curfew as voting drew to a detailed within the oil-rich central African state of some 2.5 million individuals.
That prompted opposition supporters and Ondo Ossa, an economics professor chosen as a joint candidate by Alternance 23, to denounce the election as a “fraud orchestrated by Ali Bongo and his supporters” and demand the challenger be declared the winner.
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“We name on our compatriots who gravitate round these in energy (who’re) extra devoid of legitimacy than ever, notably these round Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba” to “bow humbly to the need of the Gabonese individuals,” Ondo Ossa’s marketing campaign supervisor Mike Jocktane advised a press convention in Libreville.
“What’s now anticipated of Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba is that he accepts the sovereign selection of the Gabonese individuals, that he respects it and that he organises, with out bloodshed, the switch of energy to Professor Albert Ondo Ossa,” stated Jocktane, insisting a partial depend had Ondo Ossa clearly forward.
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Which physique is allowed to publish outcomes?
Gabonese legislation forbids any publication of partial outcomes pending the ultimate outcome, which solely the Centre Gabonais des Elections (CGE), the physique that organises the polls, is allowed by legislation to publish.
Communications Minister Rodrigue Mboumba Bissawou had Saturday insisted the web was reduce to “counter the unfold of requires violence… and false data”, amid a spate of opposition claims that Ondo Ossa’s title was lacking from poll papers in some polling stations.
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The CGE has a number of occasions but to point to AFP how the depend is progressing or when the discharge of official outcomes could also be anticipated.
The web remained off late Monday whereas the police and the navy had for a second night time put in boundaries all through the capital to make sure the curfew is revered.
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Hundreds of Gabonese voters selected candidates
In addition to electing a president, Gabon’s 850,000 voters had been additionally selecting candidates for the legislature and native councils.
Opposition events beforehand denounced a late change to voting guidelines within the legislative race beneath which any vote for an area deputy would routinely even be for that deputy’s presidential candidate, noting this might hamper Ondo Ossa as he’s not backed by any single occasion.
Earlier Monday, French media retailers RFI and France 24 expressed “incomprehension” after their operations in Gabon had been banned after authorities accused them of “an absence of objectivity and stability… in reference to the present normal elections”.
bur/cw/kjm© Agence France-Presse
