The official presidential elections results were out yesterday in Gabon and the son of former president Omar Bongo was elected the second president of the country since independence in 1960.
He is Ali Bongo and was prior to his being elected president,the defense minister in the country. The French news media was the area where you could get most of the information about the election.
Ali Bongo got close to 42 percent of the votes, beating the next person by about 17 percent. There was report of civil disturbances both in Gabon and in some of the country's embassy overseas.
The embassy in Senegal I believe was light up and so was the French embassy in Libreville, Gabon.
The country thus voted for continuity and if the son gets to be in office as long as his father did, then it would be as if the Gabonese are in a monarchy.
Reaction from around the area
Most people expected the elder son of the former president to win and that he won did not come as a surprise to many people. The opposition at one time entertain the idea of forming a single front but negotiations broke down before the elections could take place. That would have been the best bet to get somebody else in office. Ali Bongo himself is preaching reconciliation, promising to be the president of all the Gabonese, not just a section of the population. The opposition though is crying fowl and for the moment I would say that things would not get settled down for some time.
The fact that another Bongo is getting into office after a 42 year period during which a portion of the population characterize as a period of suffering, the just ended election provided an opportunity for someone else to bring change into country. That has not happened though and for the moment it is just going to be a period of wait and see.
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