Gabon’s opposition leader lodged a constitutional court challenge on Thursday against a presidential election he narrowly lost, hoping to overturn a result whose validity has been questioned at home and abroad. Former foreign minister Jean Ping lost the Aug. 27 election to President Ali Bongo by fewer than 6,000 votes, an outcome that sparked days of riots in which at least six people were killed. Ping’s spokesman said in a statement he would seek a recount in the province of Haut-Ogooue, a stronghold of the Bongo family, who have ruled the central African oil-producing nation of 1.8 million for nearly half a century.
The poll and its aftermath have shone a rare and unwelcome international spotlight on Gabon, a former French colony where petrodollars, invested by foreign firms including Total and Royal Dutch Shell <PLC RDSa.L>, have mostly benefited the elite.
France, which still has a military base the country, reiterated calls for a recount, a foreign ministry spokesman saying a “transparent, impartial examination of the results” was needed to resolve the political crisis.
Bongo has said only the court can consider that request, while Foreign Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet said an African Union (AU) mediation mission, due to arrive in the now becalmed capital Libreville on Friday, had been postponed until further notice.
Full Article: Gabon opposition leader challenges vote as mediation mission postponed | Reuters.
