Authorities in Gabon say they are ready to respond to the election result petition request filed by the opposition leader Jean Ping but noted that the response will not be based on the provincial results but on Ali Bongo’s strong base Haut-Ogooué.
Authorities in Gabon to respond to Ping's request
Chairman of Ali Bongo legal campaign committee assures that the lawyers at the President’s office in Gabon will present to the Constitutional Court evidence which prove that Jean Ping camp has falsified documents outside the province of Haut-Ogooué.
“The irregularities we found are that we are almost sure that Ping falsified documents including those that he handed to us. The documents are facts.
Those that you see on my table each time. That kind of document that is everywhere in the country.So what Ping has done is to the detriment of Ali Bongo and we have all these evidence and will submit them to the Constitutional Court” said Ali Akbar Obegue President Ali Bongo’s Legal Committee campaign group.
According to some, the document submitted to the Court by the Authority should contain the 297 results of the Haut-Ogooué as well as the evidence of suspected fraud in Jean Ping’s camp in various communities such as in Libreville.
But for the opposition, his victory is not a subject to any doubt.
The spokesperson for Jean Ping , Gaspard Ayi explained that out of the 174 results that was presented, there are almost 44,000 constituents concerned on the 71,000 that accounted for the Haut-Ogooué.
“These 11,000 abstentions are sufficient to ensure that Ali Bongo could not win the presidential election in Gabon. Not because there was a problem with the votes, but because the Minister of Interior invented an exhibit to the results. These results are different from the results of the Governor. I pray that they will not tell me that, Gabon has three different results for the same office, one for Jean Ping, one for Ali Bongo and then a for the CENAP. I hope not” he added.
It would be recalled that a Civil society group, an association of Europeans and Africans named “Collective turn the page” had requested for an international inquiry on the military and police repression that followed the post-election violence in the country, in which at least six people were killed.
Ping had on Friday also called for an international inquiry into violence that followed the announcement of the presidential election results.
President Bongo was the declared winner of the August 27 elections with a 5,000 votes lead but is currently under pressure over the controversial results which Ping said was rigged.
Gabon’s Constitutional Court has until September 23 to confirm the re-election of incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba or revert the results.