Gabon’s Coup ousting President Ali Bongo wasn’t a surprise

Deutsche Welle :
After 56 years at the helm of political affairs in Gabon, the end of the Bongo dynasty was very much expected.

That was confirmed when soldiers seized power on Wednesday, some African analysts told DW.

The Bongo family first held the reins of power when Ali Bongo’s father, Omar, became president in 1967.

Ali took control in 2009 after the death of Omar, who had ruled the oil-rich Central African nation for 41 years.

“The Gabonese population is hungry for change! That’s why most people, even if it’s a military coup, are relieved that 60 years of family regime and dynasty may finally come to an end,” Nathalie Mezo, a women’s rights activist from Gabon, told DW.

Bongo was set to tighten his grip on power beyond 14 years with a third term after he was declared winner of last Saturday’s presidential election.

The electoral commission had announced Bongo’s win with 64.27% of the vote, defeating his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, who secured 30.77% of the vote. But the coup leaders canceled the results.

Bongo’s previous election victories in 2009 and 2016 had sparked violent protests.

Jocksy Ondo Louemba, a Gabonese journalist living in exile, said the army did not want to use a heavy-handed approach to clamp down on protests as it had after previous elections.

There were hints that simmering discontent could spiral into violence after a last-minute change to the election rules required voters to select their presidential and parliamentary candidates from the same political party.

“This election was unfair and absurd because voters were forced to elect their president and their deputy [MPs] with the same ballot paper from the same party.

If someone voted for a deputy [MP] from the PDG, the party of Ali Bongo, he was forced to vote for Bongo [in the presidential election] and vice versa,” Louemba told DW.

“Even the election itself was rigged. It was a farce.”