Gabon’s President Ali Bongo has won re-election, according to members of the country’s electoral commission, but critics are denouncing the result as fraudulent.
It was reported that some members of the electoral commission resigned yesterday, and protests over the results broke out in the capital city of Libreville.
Bongo’s main opponent Jean Ping has said his campaign has evidence the election was rigged and plans to present it to Gabon’s constitutional court.
Mr Bongo secured a second seven-year term with 49.8% of the vote to Mr Ping’s 48.2 %, a margin of 5,594 votes.
At issue are the results from one province where the results show nearly 100 percent voter turnout, with Bongo receiving 95 percent of the votes.
Both candidates had declared victory after Saturday’s vote, and each side accused the other of fraud during the vote count.
Gabon does not have a run-off system, so the candidate with the most votes in the 10-candidate field wins the election.
Ping was running to end a half-century of Bongo family rule. Ali Bongo succeeded his father Omar Bongo who died in 2009 after 42 years in office
