Gabon Approves New Constitution a Year After Military Seized Power
Gabonese voters have given a resounding ‘yes’ to a new constitution proposed by the country’s military rulers. The changes, approved in a referendum on Sunday, include limits to terms in office and prevent family members from succeeding a president.
Provisional results showed 91.8 percent of voters had backed the new constitution, the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) said in a statement.
An estimated 860,000 people in Gabon were registered to vote. The interior ministry said 53.54 percent turned out to cast their ballot.
National broadcaster Gabon TV said there were no serious incidents reported during voting across 2,835 polling stations nationwide.
The junta on Saturday extended a night curfew by two hours to midnight “during the whole electoral process”, according to a decree read on state television.
Constitutional proposals
The proposed new constitution sets out a vision of a presidency with a maximum of two terms, but increases the length from five to seven years.
It also abolishes the post of prime minister and stops family members from succeeding a president.
Presidential candidates would have to be exclusively Gabonese – with at least one Gabon-born parent – and have a Gabonese spouse.
This would eliminate toppled ruler Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is married to a French woman, and his children.
His replacement, transitional president Brice Oligui Nguema, declared the referendum a “great step forward” as he cast his vote at a Libreville school.
Who is General Brice Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s new transitional leader?
“All Gabonese are coming to vote in a transparent fashion,” the junta chief told the press, having ditched his general’s uniform for a brown civilian jacket over jeans.
Oligui has vowed to hand power back to civilians after a two-year transition but has made no secret of his desire to win the presidential election scheduled for August 2025.
Opponents of the proposed text had dismissed it as tailor-made for strongman Oligui to remain in power.
“We are creating a dictator who designs the constitution for himself,” lawyer Marlene Fabienne Essola Efountame said.
Gabon junta sets August 2025 as ‘indicative’ election date
The interior ministry said it had done all it could to ensure Saturday’s referendum was transparent, including inviting international observers – who were not present in Gabon’s presidential election in August 2023.
The final tally will be announced by the constitutional court.
By RFI website.
