Summary:
A month before Gabon's general elections on Saturday, August 26, the Gabonese Center for Elections announced a change that critics say favors the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party or the PDG.
According to the new rule, any vote for a local deputy would automatically be a vote for a deputy's presidential candidate. This means voters must select their presidential and parliamentary candidate from the same political party. Libreville resident Omar Jean-Paul Doulagu says now the outcome is essentially predetermined. Have you seen the single ballot? They may have abandoned the candidates for their legislative elections. What will happen? There will be nothing. It's all the same.
Two main camps are facing off. President Ali Bango-Ondi-Bas party, the PDG and Gabon's main opposition coalition alternates, led by Albert-Ondo Osa. Teha Filmetika Nyambo is the spokesperson for PDG 41, an initiative that brings together more than 30 opposition parties. He says everyone must be on the lookout for election irregularities. We are in a climate of mistrust. It is necessary that everyone observes, that everyone looks at where any small flaw will come from in order to denounce it quickly so that there is no explosion, even though we are close to an explosion if any tricks are done in plain sight. On Saturday, voters decide the future leadership of the country.
Christian Walbaugh, Omar Bango University professor says elections are game-changers. The new models of Parandi will necessarily be composed and redefine the national political field. Perhaps due to the consequences of the election, the political actors will realize that this process as it was carried out was not the right one and returned to the old method. The tense climate is drawing cause for calmness and the run-up to the election says Harvey Ondo, the spokesperson for Ali Bango-Ondi-Bas Friends Movement. No political ambition, no political fight should be a cause for violence in our country. We should not stop the Gabonese from living together. This is why we say no to violence, no to hatred, but rather yes to love.