Ofure Akhigbe
Gabon is awaiting the outcome of legislative and local elections held on Saturday, the first since the 2023 military coup that ended more than five decades of Bongo family rule.
More than 900,000 citizens were called to the polls on September 28 to elect 145 members of parliament and local councillors, who will later choose senators, mayors and presidents of regional assemblies. Vote counting began immediately after polls closed on Saturday evening, with observers allowed to monitor the process.
Initial results were still pending in the early hours of Monday, September 29. The vote was largely peaceful, although authorities canceled voting in one constituency in Ntoum, a suburb of Libreville, due to tensions between candidates.
The election comes six months after Gabonese voters overwhelmingly confirmed General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, leader of the August 2023 coup, as president. The legislative results are expected to determine whether he can count on a parliamentary majority.
The main contenders are the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which dominated politics from its founding in 1968 until it was toppled last year, and the Democratic Union of Builders (UDB), created three months ago by Oligui Nguema. Several smaller, underfunded parties are also competing.
A second round of voting is scheduled for October 11 in constituencies where no candidate secures an outright majority.