Riots Follow Gabon Prez’s Re-Election, Oppn Claims Polls Rigged

While opposition supporters clashed with the police, the international community urged for calm and transparency.

A file photo of Gabon’s President Ali Bongo. (Photo: AP)

Demonstrators took to the streets in Gabon, clashing with the police and setting part of the parliament building on fire, on Wednesday after President Ali Bongo was re-elected in the polls, keeping alive the family dynasty in the oil-rich African country.

Bongo’s main rival, Jean Ping, challenged the results, which show Bongo winning by just 1.57 percentage points, and claims the process to have been rigged. The results of the Saturday elections came a day later than expected, prompting fears of a tainted process.

Opposition Supporters Riot, Claim Election Fraud

There was high tension around the elections and the situation worsened after the results when anger boiled over among the opposition supporters claiming election fraud.

Riots erupted in at least nine suburbs of Gabon’s capital Libreville on Thursday in protest. Riot police fired teargas in clashes with around 100 opposition supporters in one neighbourhood in the capital, according to a Reuters witness.

Ping says he is not calling on supporters to protest. Looting and clashes also followed Bongo’s win in 2009, when he came to power after the death of his father, longtime ruler Omar Bongo.

The Bongo family has been in power for nearly half a century. This re-election gives Bongo another seven years in power. Gabon’s economic troubles have led to budget cuts in one of Africa’s richest nations and fuelled opposition charges that its 1.8 million people have struggled under Bongo’s leadership.

Ping Says Security Forces Killed and Injured People

Opposition leader Ping said on Thursday that two people were killed and many wounded when the presidential guard and police attacked his party’s headquarters overnight.

Loud explosions and gunfire resounded through the Nkembo neighbourhood of Gabon‘s capital on Thursday as security forces clashed with protesters.

International Community Calls for Transparency

Ping called for international assistance to protect the population of the country and said Saturday’s election was stolen by Bongo.

France, the United States and the European Union all urged calm and called upon Gabonese authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the United Nations also urged restraint.

An EU observer mission sent to monitor the polls criticised a “lack of transparency” among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he called “on all political leaders to address their differences peacefully through existing constitutional and legal channels.”

Ban also called on the authorities to ensure that the national security forces exercise restraint in their response to protests.

(With inputs from Reuters.)