Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s transitional president, has won the April 12 presidential election with 94.85% of the vote, according to a revised provisional tally announced on Friday by Interior Minister Hermann Immongault.
The results await final validation by the country’s Constitutional Court.
In the second official statement issued since the election, Minister Immongault reported that Oligui Nguema secured 588,074 votes out of 620,000 valid ballots cast.
This adjusted figure comes after a comprehensive verification of vote tallying reports to ensure accuracy before submission to the Constitutional Court.
“The purpose of this updated announcement is to guarantee the reliability of the figures,” said the Interior Minister during Friday’s press briefing in Libreville.
The latest figures reflect a minor adjustment in voter turnout, now recorded at 70.11%, down slightly from the previously stated 70.4%. Out of 907,665 registered voters, a total of 636,665 cast their ballots.
Of those, 16,665 were either blank or invalid, reducing the count of valid votes to 620,000.
Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, former Prime Minister and main opposition challenger, came in second with 19,265 votes, accounting for 3.11% of the total.
The remaining six candidates collectively garnered less than 2.1% of the vote.
This overwhelming result reinforces Oligui Nguema’s grip on power as he leads the country through a transitional period following last year’s military-led ousting of former president Ali Bongo Ondimba.
Oligui, who previously headed the Republican Guard, had promised a return to democratic rule and initiated a new constitutional process.
All eyes now turn to Gabon’s Constitutional Court, the sole body empowered to certify the final results and officially confirm the election outcome.
Source: apanews
