Following the overwhelming victory of the Yes » in the constitutional referendum of Saturday November 16 by 91.8% of the votes, the final result of the consultation must still be validated by the Constitutional Court. Then the text must be promulgated by the president of the transition. Then, two questions will quickly arise: when will the presidential election be held? On the other hand, will General Brice Oligui Nguema participate?
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The massive victory of the Yes » during the constitutional referendum organized in Gabon Saturday, November 16 opened the door to several questions that remained unanswered until then. The first concerns the date of the organization of the presidential election to designate the new head of state. The transition timeline provides that the period which opened with the coup d’état of August 30, 2023 must end in August 2025. But Gabonese Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima recalled on RFI that this deadline was only indicative. In short: the ballots could take place a little earlier or a little later, depending on the progress of the projects launched by the authorities.
But while some already anticipate an acceleration of the process to quickly return to normal functioning of institutions, some voices urge patience. This is for example the case of transition senator and civil society figure Marc Ona Essangui who warns against any haste.
“ Realistically, I think that we must keep the presidential election in August because the projects that remain to be carried out are enormous and we need a lot of time to complete them: there is in particular the revision of the electoral lists, then it will also be necessary to adapt the new electoral law, estimates this before continuing: we must learn lessons from what we saw on the ground during the referendum to correct certain things and avoid certain mix-ups, because, when it comes to organizing a vote with many candidates, it will be much more cumbersome . »
The participation of General Oligui Nguema in the presidential election, the other question that is on everyone’s lips
Added to this argument is the fact that in Gabon, elections generally take place in August. In the middle of the dry seasons and school holidays, this makes it easier to move around the country and for many voters to return to their region of origin to vote: many are still often registered there on the electoral lists. For some, the level of abstention observed during the referendum of November 16 (46.5%) – despite the granting of two public holidays – is partly explained by the difficulty of getting from one point to another in rainy period.
It remains that on this point, the last word will, in any case, go to General Oligui Nguema, whose participation in the presidential election is the other big question that is on everyone’s lips. If the head of the transition has not officially spoken out on his intentions, his tours in the country and his declarations clearly show a desire to be long-term. “ Together we continue to build a strong and united nation “, wrote Monday, November 18, the one who compared himself to Joshua, the biblical prophet who completed the work of Moses by leading the Jewish people to the Promised Land.
Also readReferendum in Gabon: “yes” to the Constitution wins with 91.80% of the votes