Another Contested Election in Gabon Sparks Civil Unrest · Global Voices
Screen capture of video of conflict between police and protesters after the elections via France 24
Presidential elections took place in Gabon on August 27, 2016. On August 31, both the incumbent president, <PERSON>, and his main opponent, <PERSON>, announced that they won the elections. The official results, however, declared <PERSON> the winner, with a total of 177,722 votes to the incumbent, while <PERSON> and his political party Union of Forces for Change collected 172,128 votes.
The news resulted in immediate and massive street protests from the opposition. During clashes between the police and protesters, at least five demonstrators were reported dead. In addition, 200 stores were ransacked and the national parliament building was set on fire:
#Gabon‘s national assembly set ablaze in the immediate aftermath of what many are calling a rigged election result: https://t.co/WjOEmyPZSa
— <PERSON> (@Smith_JeffreyT) August 31, 2016
🔴 #Gabon2016 riots NOW people calling for HELP PLS @BreakingF24 @JTAtv5monde @BFMTV @itele @BBCBreaking @cnnbrk @RFI pic.twitter.com/6TYkNTrljO
— <PERSON> (@gloriamika) September 2, 2016
The main players and fraud allegations
<PERSON> versus <PERSON> via wikipedia
This is not the first time that elections have been highly contested in Gabon. The incumbent, <PERSON>, is the son of former despot <PERSON>, who was the country's president from 1967 until his death in 2009. During his father's presidency, <PERSON> was minister of foreign affairs (1989 to 1991) and minister of defense (1999 to 2009). He was also the candidate of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) in the August 2009 presidential election in which, according to official results, he won with 42% of the vote. But one of his opponents, <PERSON>, alleged that the elections were rigged and many of <PERSON>'s supporters protested in the streets of Port-Gentil.
Similar allegations are now being expressed by <PERSON>, who has enjoyed a long career as a diplomat and politician. As the chairperson of the Commission of the African Union from 2008 to 2012, <PERSON> was often involved in trying to resolve electoral crises — Madagascar in 2009 and Côte d'Ivoire in 2010. Interestingly, he is now entrenched in a political crisis in his own country and will get to see whether his negotiation skills can be put to work for his own interest.
<PERSON>, head of Amnesty International in West and Central Africa, explained what is at stake in Gabon:
Si vous multipliez les obstacles pour arriver à des élections transparentes et à une alternance pacifique, forcément vous aboutissez à des situations de cette nature. 1017
En Afrique centrale, on n’a pas l’impression que les gens veulent quitter le pouvoir. Surtout quand il s’agit d’une famille qui y est restée très longtemps. Il faut une équité dans la gestion des ressources. Il ne faut pas que ce soit un groupe, un clan ou une famille qui gardent tout. Les autres vont demander d’une façon ou d’une autre leur part du gâteau. Soit vous changez pacifiquement par des élections transparentes dont les résultats sont acceptés, et si vous ne le faites pas, vous ne pouvez espérer bénéficier d’une stabilité dans la durée. Il faut créer de véritables forces républicaines qui ne sont pas là pour défendre un régime. Nous avons demandé aux forces de sécurité gabonaises et aux autorités en place d’arrêter l’usage excessif de la force. Les gens doivent pouvoir exprimer leur mécontentement pacifiquement, sans avoir peur pour leur vie. Sans avoir peur pour leur intégrité physique.
If you multiply the obstacles to conduct transparent elections and have a peaceful transition, inevitably you will end up with situations of this nature. In Central Africa, we do not sense that the reigning elite is willing to yield power. 847