Gabon’s vote recount set for mid-October
The furore over Gabon’s recent presidential election, won by the son of long-time dictator Omar Bongo, will be settled by a vote recount, with results due later this month, says the country’s Constitutional Court. But with Ali Bongo taking power shortly after his father died, ending some 40 years of despotic rule, the court will no doubt find its credibility is on the line. If the results are annulled, the court says the election will be held again - otherwise Bongo Jnr gets the job. The court received 11 requests to declare the election results invalid, from ten presidential candidates and one private citizen. The plaintiffs are said to welcome the recount, despite the court not allowing them to send representatives and bailiffs to observe the process. Instead, recount officials are conducting interviews with them. But with the two opposition front-runners only getting 25% of the vote each, and thereby having to make up some 17% each to catch Bongo, this election looks done and dusted.
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