Gabon’s main opposition parties have demanded that authorities conduct a recount of a disputed election the government said was won by the son of the country’s long-ruling president.
Fifteen of the 17 candidates who took part in the Aug. 30 vote held a news conference on Monday in the capital, Libreville, to voice their concerns about Ali Bongo’s victory. They offered no proof, but alleged in a joint statement there had been “serious manipulation.”
The second and third-place finishers — opposition leaders Andre Mba Obame and Pierre Mamboundou — were present. It was the first time Mamboundou had appeared in public since results were announced on Thursday.
The group also called for an international commission to investigate postelection violence that centered on Port Gentil, the country’s oil hub and second-largest city.
Evidence of the several days of chaos was still ubiquitous in Port Gentil. Shopkeepers on Monday swept glass from streets littered with burned-out cars, while hungry residents stood in long lines to buy bread. Torched shops scarred many neighborhoods, and with public services still on hold, trash lay on the roadsides and debris in the street.
Still, the city showed signs of recovery on its second day of calm since rioting began on Thursday after the government announced Ali Bongo had won the election. He is being accused of rigging the vote to replace his father, Omar Bongo, who died in June after ruling for 41 years.
Gas stations reopened for the first time on Monday, as did shops selling meat and rice. Residents desperate to buy bread began mobbing bakeries before dawn, waiting up to six hours in lines stretching 150 people long.
“Bongo we accepted, but his son, no. We want someone new,” said Noelle Mve, a housewife who had been waiting in line for three hours for bread and still had 100 people in front of her.
Angry protesters last week torched a police station, markets and the French Consulate. French oil company Total evacuated employees and their families to Libreville.
No date has been set for Bongo’s inauguration, and many expect the opposition to formally challenge the results.
Former prime minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong, acting as spokesman for the 16 independent and opposition candidates, has said the election results “were false.” The country’s top three opposition leaders have said they feared security forces were trying to kill them.
The elder Bongo was viewed by many as the father of the nation and although he amassed a fortune, including 66 private bank accounts and more than 45 homes in the names of his immediate family members, he was mostly tolerated and seen as a vestige from another era, when Africa was ruled by autocrats.
His son, nicknamed “Baby Zeus” when he was a child because of his heir apparent status, is seen by critics as a usurper of power.
Others, though, say they have little choice but to accept the result.
“What can we do? He was elected and the court confirmed it,” said Daniel Essebe, a Total oil platform worker who has been idled. “We can’t keep not working.”
The violence “no longer serves a purpose,” Essebe said, sitting at a beachside drinks stand with the oil platform he works on visible offshore behind him. “The people are suffering. They have no bread, no food.”
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