LIBREVILLE, Gabon
The camp of Albert Ondo Ossa, President Ali Bongo Ondimba's main rival in Saturday's election in Gabon, whose official results are still awaited, again claimed on Monday to have won and called on the Head of State to "Organize the transfer of power".
Mr. Ondo Ossa, behind whom the
main opposition parties have lined up, had already denounced "fraud"
by the Bongo camp on Saturday, two hours before the polls closed, and asked to
be "declared the winner".
"We call on our
compatriots who gravitate around this power that is more devoid of legitimacy
than ever, particularly those around Mr. Ali Bongo Ondimba" to "bow
humbly before the will of the Gabonese people", declared Mike Jocktane,
the director of campaign of Mr. Ondo Ossa, during a press conference in Libreville.
"What is now expected of
Mr. Ali Bongo Ondimba, (c') is that he accepts the sovereign choice of the
Gabonese people, that he respects it and that he organizes, without bloodshed,
the transfer of power to favor of Professor Albert Ondo Ossa", hammered
Mr. Jocktane.
He invoked, in support of this
request, a "trend", which he quantified, based on "the
consolidation of more than 50% of the votes" cast, without supporting
document. Gabonese law prohibits any media from reproducing figures put forward
by Mr. Jocktane or anyone else, pending the official results that only the
Gabonese Elections Center (CGE) is empowered by law to proclaim.
Questioned several times by
AFP on Sunday and Monday, the CGE refused to give any indications on the
progress of the counting and on the date and time scheduled for the
proclamation of the official results.
At the time scheduled for the
closing of the polling stations on Saturday, and while the CGE had postponed it
by several hours for many of them having opened very late, the government
suspended internet access in the whole country and declared a curfew for the
following day, until further notice. This by invoking the risk of violence
after the declarations of Mr. Ondo Ossa who demanded to be proclaimed the
winner.
Internet access was still not
restored on Monday evening and the army and the police had set up roadblocks
throughout the capital in the evening to enforce the curfew for the second
consecutive night. - Africa
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