Members of the Gabonese opposition have lamented the long-awaited absence of European Union observers at the country’s next general elections, scheduled for later this year.
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba will in all likelihood appear — his Gabonese Democratic Party asked him to do so in December — for another term in an attempt to prolong his stay in power, which he assumed in 2009 upon the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled the country for 41 years.
Ali Bongo claimed victory after winning an election that was criticized by the opposition. In 2016 he was re-elected in an election whose results were not recognized by his rival, Jean Ping.
It should be recalled that the head of the EU Delegation in Gabon, Rosário Bento Pais, already indicated this week that she considered the presence of observers impossible as she had not received an invitation from the Gabonese government.
During the last presidential elections of 2016, the European Union deployed in the country a team that, according to the authorities, did not demonstrate the impartiality and neutrality required in this type of exercise, as recalled by the news portal ‘La Libreville’.
The EU and Gabon went three years without diplomatic contacts until they finally resumed dialogue in 2019. However, both sides agreed that Brussels would not propose to Gabon to send election observers, knowing that such a request would be met with an automatic rejection.
«The European Union observation mission is notoriously known as a serious and reliable observation mission,» opposition leader and National Union vice-president Jean-Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi lamented to Radio France Internationale (RFI). «The fact that they were not invited by the Gabonese government already hints at how they expect the elections to unfold,» he added.
«A government that intends to force its way in and rig the elections,» he has made clear, «has no interest in receiving an observer mission from the European Union.»
Another prominent opponent, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Pierre-Claver Maganga Moussavou, has instead called on the EU to rebel and openly request the participation of its observers. «The EU cannot give up. In fact, I believe it has the power to demand it if it perceives democratic interference,» he added, before suggesting economic pressure on the government.
«If they stop importing oil and manganese from here, Gabon runs out of resources,» he added.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
