Court Finishes Vote Recount in Gabon
Gabon's constitutional court has finished its recount of presidential ballots. The court says it expects to rule on the validity of the vote in the coming week. Constitutional court president Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo says the court has completed recounting every return from the more than 2,800 polling stations.
She says the court will rule on the validity of that
poll in the coming week after inviting opposition candidates to present
evidence of the claims of massive vote fraud by electoral officials to
benefit ruling party candidate Ali Ben Bongo.
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| A boy uses a pitchfork to clear debris in front of a burnt shop, in a market area looted during recent postelection violence, in Port Gentil, Gabon (File) |
Gabon's interior ministry says
Bongo won with nearly 42 percent of the vote. Former interior minister
Andre Mba Obame and long-time opposition leader Pierre Mamboundou each
received about 25 percent of the vote.
Obame and Mamboundou
joined seven other opposition candidates in filing suit to challenging
the Bongo win. But they did not take part in the recount because the
court refused to allow each of them to send a political representative
as well as a bailiff to observe the process.
If the court finds
the results should be annulled, Mborantsuo says the election will be
held again. If the court confirms Bongo's victory, he will be
inaugurated.
Interior Minister Jean Francois Ndoungou told the court about the conduct of the vote.
Ndoungou
told reporters outside the court that concerning the electoral list and
the comportment of electoral officials during the process, he sees no
call for further action by the court to challenge the outcome.
Most
electoral observers believe the vote was fair despite irregularities
that included security forces at polling stations, some ballot boxes
not being properly sealed, and the absence of opposition
representatives during some vote counting.
The election was held
to replace long-time president Omar Bongo, who died in June after 42
years in power. When his son was announced as the winner of the vote,
opposition demonstrators in Port Gentil burned the French consulate and
attacked offices of French and U.S. oil companies.
Security
forces say three people were killed in that unrest. Human-rights groups
say the death toll was at least 15. Interim President Rose Francine
Rogombe says an investigation is underway to determine who was
responsible for the violence.
By Scott Stearns
Dakar
04 October 2009
