Gabon Opposition Seeks to Unseat Incumbent Bongo Amid New Rule
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Former Gabon education minister Albert Ondo Ossa has been backed by five main opposition parties under the "Alternance 2023” banner, in a bid to unseat President Ali Bongo — whose family has ruled the oil-rich Central African state for 55 years.
After Gabon’s electoral commission announced a new rule saying any vote for a local deputy would automatically be a vote for that deputy's presidential candidate, the opposition urged a boycott of the parliamentary elections — calling instead for people "to vote only for the president" and to "throw the legislative ballot sheets in the trash."
Gabonese voters head to the polls Aug. 26.
David Monda, a professor of political science at City University of New York, discussed with VOA's Mohamed Elshinnawi election scenarios and whether Ondo Ossa stands a fair chance of winning the presidency.