BREAKING: MILITARY IN GABON CLAIMS POWER, SAY ELECTION LACKED CREDIBILITY

Wed 30 August 2023:

A number of senior military soldiers have emerged on Gabonese television, claiming to have taken power because the weekend polls were not credible.

In a Wednesday broadcast, the officers stated that they had cancelled the elections, disbanded all state institutions, and closed the country’s borders.

Military in Gabon claims power, say election lacked credibility pic.twitter.com/FU65hvWV46

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) August 30, 2023

They claimed to represent Gabon’s entire security and defense forces.

The statement came shortly after the state electoral commission announced that President Ali Bongo had won a third term in power in the disputed polls on Saturday.

Opposition urges Bongo to concede poll defeat

Supporters of Albert Ondo Ossa, main rival to incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon’s presidential election, on Monday urged the head of state to concede defeat and organise a handover, saying their man had won.

The Alternance 23 opposition platform has swung behind Ondo Ossa, seeking to deny Bongo, 64, and the scion of a family that has ruled for 55 years, a third term.

Saturday saw the authorities cut internet access and impose a nighttime curfew as voting drew to a close in the oil-rich central African state of some 2.5 million people.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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