GABON: Incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba (64) is seeking a third term in power as Gabon goes to the polls on 26 August.
The central African nation’s 800,000-plus eligible voters are to elect local lawmakers, national assembly members and the next president. Bongo has already served two seven-year terms. His main challenger is Albert Ondo Ossa. The 69-year-old economics and management professor was picked by an alliance of six main opposition parties as their joint candidate barely a week before the vote.
There are some broad concerns about violence given that every vote held in Gabon since the country’s return to a multi-party system in 1990 has ended in violence. Clashes between government forces and protesters following the 2016 elections killed four people, according to official figures. (Reuters; Bloomberg)
