Gabon: Ali Bongo announces his presidential candidacy for a 3rd term
Not surprisingly, Ali Bongo Ondimba on Sunday announced his candidacy for the Gabonese presidential election scheduled for August 26. It would be a third term for the head of state, in power for fourteen years.
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in power for almost 14 years, announced on Sunday (July 9) that he will be a candidate for a third presidential term on August 26.
“I officially announce today that I am a candidate” in the presidential election, he launched in front of a few hundred supporters who shouted “Ali president!”, in a speech broadcast live on Twitter, in the Zone Special Economic Zone (ZES ) of Nkok, near the capital Libreville.
Ali Bongo Ondimba leaves the presidential election’s big favorite for the time being because the opposition is advancing in a very scattered order, with around twenty personalities already announcing their intention to present themselves against the outgoing head of state.
In power for 14 years
The 64-year-old head of state was first elected in 2009 after the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled the country for more than 41 years, and then re-elected in 2016.
His candidacy must be endorsed by an investiture congress scheduled for Monday of his all-powerful Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which largely dominates parliament and is a heavy favorite in legislative and municipal elections that take place on the same day as the presidential election on 26. August.
The formal appointment of Ali Bongo Ondimba as Chief Executive on Monday will be a formality, the party has been asking him for more than a year to run for a third term.
The closing of official applications will be announced on Tuesday. The official election campaign will run from August 11 to 25 at midnight, but most of the candidates have been conducting it for a year throughout the country, with Ali Bongo multiplying in recent months an intense “republican tour” by handing out promises. A “pre-campaign” carried out with state funds condemns the opposition.
AFP
