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People wait in line for the opening of a polling office during the presidential election in Libreville, Gabon, on Aug. 26, 2023.
We’d love to tell you all about the election results in Gabon – except we can’t, because the government’s not saying who won.
Barely two hours after opposition leader Albert Ondo Ossa called on President Ali Bongo to step down, it was announced that the internet had been cut and a nightly curfew imposed in the central African country, allegedly to “counter the spread of calls for violence ... and false information.”
Gabon's broadcasting authority also banned the French channels France 24, Radio France Internationale, and TV5Monde from the airwaves, accusing them of "a lack of objectivity and balance.”
Opposition politicians had alleged severe election irregularities, including eight-hour voting delays and the absence of Ossa’s name on ballots in some places. Bongo, who succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009 after four decades, is the scion of a family that has ruled Gabon for 56 years. He’s seeking a third term but is facing fresh challenges from a newly united opposition.
