In Gabon, ten days of political consultations between power and opposition ended on Thursday 23 February. The opposition had called for a dialogue with the authorities to reform the electoral system and avoid new crises like that of 2016. President Bongo had accepted. A number of decisions were adopted.
The negotiations must be used to obtain credible, transparent and peaceful elections, in an important year 2023 with three elections announced, those of the presidential, the legislative and the local ones.
Main measures: president, senators, deputies and local elected officials will be elected for five years, in single-round ballots. But the number of mandates will remain unlimited. These consultations therefore come back to certain decisions taken after the electoral crisis of 2016, where the principle of a presidential election in two rounds had for example been adopted.
For Prime Minister Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, these new resolutions will make it possible to calm the electoral climate: “ A one-round election makes it possible to have results very quickly, makes it possible to mobilize the electorate only once, to mobilize the administration only once. We thought it was good to develop our democracy towards a model that carried less risk of open conflicts – political ones, I mean – and that is the responsibility when one leads. »
Louis-Gaston Mayila is president of the opposition coalition PG41. He says he is satisfied and awaits the continuation of the dialogue on the points where there was no agreement: “ We didn’t go there to fight it out. The conclusions reflect the friendly atmosphere that happened. We have drawn the conclusions that go in the direction of appeasement. We have set up a follow-up committee, which means that the questions that have been left unanswered will find plenty of time to provide answers. We know that we couldn’t do everything in ten days. »
Among the outstanding issues, some are crucial or thorny, such as biometrics, the status of the opposition, electoral redistricting or the reform of the Elections Center. Some nevertheless point the finger at the lack of inclusiveness of the consultations because several tenors of the opposition boycotted, accusing these negotiations of being a masquerade.
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