In Gabon, the Ministry of the Interior should now be responsible for organizing elections. However, on Wednesday, Minister Hermann Immongault was to present a draft text to deputies. But the hearing had to be canceled after heated debates and a controversial text.
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The deputies also criticize the minister for not having respected the procedures. Hermann Immongault was at the assembly, waiting for his hearing. Parliamentarians then met to examine possible legal obstacles.
First problem raised: the text was not transmitted 48 hours in advance as required by the regulations. In fact, many did not have it. “ You can’t ask questions without having read it. » indicates a parliamentarian, adding that on the procedural side, deputies are often conciliatory. But the, ” this text is so important that we couldn’t let it pass », adds this source.
Then, some recalled that the transition timetable did not provide for discussions on the electoral law before January, a month after the referendum on the new constitution. “ It is the fundamental text which defines the conditions for organizing elections, who presents themselves or not, the type of ballot, the political regime, etc. All this comes before electoral law. It’s elementary logic », Indicates MP Jean Valentin Leyama.
“ This text buries all democratic achievements »
Added to this is a distrust of the bill. The project plans to modify more than thirty articles of the 1996 electoral law. The Ministry of the Interior replaces the Gabonese Elections Center and recovers most of the prerogatives. It decides on coupled or general elections, chooses their dates as well as those of the campaigns, it orders, transports and controls the electoral materials, it examines and validates the candidatures, finally it sets the terms of transmission of the results and the routing of the trials -verbal.
“ This text buries all democratic achievements », protests Jean Valentin Leyama. According to the MP, the candidates in the elections will not be represented, and will not receive a copy of the minutes. “ It’s a return to the single party “, he says.
In this text, local, provincial, departmental or even district electoral commissions will be created. The ministry will appoint members who will be institutional actors and representatives of technical ministries chosen according to their “ probity, neutrality and impartiality “, says the text. “ It’s a very fragile situation. These appointments are discretionary. In the past, many of these agents were bought », indicates Jean Valentin Leyama.
Another MP believes that this bill is an attack on democracy, presaging locked elections. For several days, deputies from sometimes opposing sides have been consulting each other and discontent has been mounting against this text. Monday’s hearing promises to be tense.
The President of the Assembly Jean-François Ndongou tried to calm things down, but a rebellion broke out, some even left the room and the hearing was finally postponed until Monday. “ The atmosphere promises to be tense », according to Jean Valentin Leyama.
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