Gabon Votes for Parliament With Bongo Set to Maintain Control
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Voters in Gabon will cast ballots in a parliamentary election tomorrow, with President Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba likely to maintain his family’s 44-year hold on power in sub-Saharan Africa’s sixth-biggest oil producer.
As many as 475 candidates are vying for 120 seats in the central African nation’s National Assembly, including 90 from Bongo’s Parti Democratique Gabonaise and 160 candidates from smaller groups that back him. A group of 12 opposition parties say the vote won’t be fair and are calling for a boycott.
Bongo has “gradually and quietly tightened his grip on power” since he was elected in 2009 following the death of his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who ruled Gabon for 42 years, according to Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, emerging-market analyst at New York-based DaMina Advisors. Bongo has replaced his father’s loyalists with his own in the administration, he said.
In the near term, fast-growing oil production will be enough to power the company, but buying new oil properties now makes no sense because they have become too expensive, CNRL president Steve Laut said in an interview. Oil price have surged to around