(3 minutes read)
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba (64), announced that he would contest for a third term in the presidential elections scheduled for August 26. He has been in power for almost 14 years. He is seemingly in the lead as of now, since the opposition is in disarray. The opposition so far, failed to cobble up a healthy coalition, although talks are still on. Already, there are 20 candidates in the fray. The President has announced his candidature through a Facebook message.
Ali Bongo Ondimba was first elected in 2009 on the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled the country for over 41 years. Bongo was narrowly re-elected in 2016. His candidacy will have to be ratified by a special congress scheduled of his all-powerful Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which dominates parliament by a wide margin and is the clear favorite in the legislative and municipal elections to be held on the same day as the presidential election, August 26. Bongo’s formal investiture by the PDG will be a formality, as the party has been asking him to run for a third term for over a year.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/gabon-to-hold-presidential-election-on-august-26/
https://trendsnafrica.com/gabon-may-hold-election-in-august-president-ali-bongo-ondimba-to-contest/
https://trendsnafrica.com/gabon-reduces-presidential-term-of-office-to-five-years/
Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 and spent months on the sidelines recovering, leaving the opposition to question his fitness to run the nation. In April, the Gabonese parliament voted to amend the constitution and reduce the president’s term from seven to five years. Sections of the opposition criticized the changes, in particular the end of two rounds of voting, as a means of facilitating the re-election of Bongo. Political commentators say Bongo’s win is a foregone conclusion since his party had the brutal majority in the last elections and nothing much has changed since then as the opposition unity seems to be a far-fetched one. There are reports about discontentment of the public following the announcement of his candidature.
