×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Bongo wins poll, attacks opposition

A blue police truck parks outside the headquarters of Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping in Libreville yesterday. The results of the presidential election, announced on Wednesday, handed Ali Bongo a second term and extended his family's nearly five-decade-long rule. PHOTO: MARCO LONGARI/AFP
A blue police truck parks outside the headquarters of Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping in Libreville yesterday. The results of the presidential election, announced on Wednesday, handed Ali Bongo a second term and extended his family's nearly five-decade-long rule. PHOTO: MARCO LONGARI/AFP

Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping yester day said two people were killed and many wounded when the presidential guard and police attacked his party's headquarters overnight after an election narrowly won by President Ali Bongo.

Ping called for international assistance to protect the population of the oil-producing state and said Saturday's election was stolen by Bongo, who was declared the winner on Wednesday.

The result gives the president a further seven years in power in the country of 1.8 million people. Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years.

"Everybody knows that I won the election," Ping said, adding that the electoral commission's figures were based on false documents.

"The (Bongo) family are repeating the same scenario for almost half a century. The opposition can win the elections but they have never had access to power... We need assistance from the rest of the world to protect the population of Gabon from a clan of mercenaries, a rogue state," he said.

Opposition supporters greeted the election result with anger. Demonstrators in the capital Libreville clashed with police and set part of the parliament building on fire. It burned for hours before being extinguished, witnesses said.

Yesterday there were fresh clashes in the impoverished Nkembo neighbourhood near the centre of the capital. Gunfire and explosions could be heard, witnesses said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an immediate end to violence.

"Within the framework of a political process, there's no room for violence," Ayrault said.

"I'm calling, therefore, all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid additional victims."

The US and the European Union urged calm and called on authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the UN also urged restraint.

Bongo won 49.80% of the votes against 48.23% for Ping, on a turnout of 59.46%, according to results given region by region by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.

"This victory by such a tight score obliges ... each of us to respect the verdict of the ballot box and our institutions," Bongo said in a speech given to reporters.

Ping, a political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of the late president and fathered two children with his daughter.

His avenue for contesting the result appeared uncertain.

Elections in Africa are frequently disputed but it is unusual for results to be overturned.

Ping said he was not calling on his supporters to protest because they were already under pressure from authorities. He said he feared arms would be planted in his party headquarters and he could be arrested as a result.

Voting was peaceful but the election followed a bitter campaign in which both sides traded accusations of fraud. Opposition suspicions were heightened when the release of results was delayed earlier in the week.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.