Referendum in Gabon: Massive “yes” victory, according to provisional results

The new constitution drafted by the military regime of General Brice Oligui Nguema was validated with 91.80% “yes” during the referendum held on Saturday in Gabon, according to provisional results published on Sunday by the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI).

The “no” obtained 8.20% of the votes and “the observed participation rate amounts to 53.54%”, according to data published by the Ministry of the Interior.

A total of 868,115 voters were called to cast a green ballot for “yes” or red for “no”, during this consultation presented by the authorities as a “historic moment” for the country, a little over a year after the putsch that overthrew the Bongo dynasty.

Return power to civilians

Once the final results have been confirmed by the constitutional court, the next step will be the holding of a presidential election, currently scheduled for August 2025, to put a definitive end to the transition born from the putsch of August 30, 2023.

General Oligui has promised to return power to civilians but he does not hide his presidential ambitions by also promising a “rise towards happiness” for this country which is both rich in oil and heavily in debt.

Since Friday, the authorities have reinforced the curfew put in place since the putsch, with hours “rearranged from 24 p.m. to 5 a.m. throughout the period of the electoral process”.

National and international observers

No major incidents were reported during the voting day, according to the authorities and according to the Network of Citizen Observers (ROC), a platform of local associations supported by the United Nations.

National and international observers were allowed to follow the voting progress but access to the counting process was not authorized everywhere, according to the ROC.

In accordance with the Gabonese electoral code, the ballots were incinerated in each of the polling stations after counting. The report of the results was centralized at the Ministry of the Interior which replaced the bodies dissolved after the coup d'état of August 30, 2023.

There were 463,066 voters, 9983 blank or invalid ballots, or 454,173 votes cast, according to figures communicated by the Ministry of the Interior.

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