On 12 April, Gabon held its first presidential election since the 2023 coup (which had immediately followed the August 2023 general presidential elections), four months ahead of the schedule set out in the transitional charter. The sitting transitional president and coup leader General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema won the election decisively running as an independent candidate with the endorsement of all major political parties. The Constitutional Court’s final tallies reported that he received 94.9 per cent of the votes. There were seven other candidates (all independent) in the election, only one of whom is a woman. Among the other candidates only Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze (who had been prime minister until the 2023 coup) received more than 1 per cent of the vote (with 3 per cent). The Constitutional Court reported turnout of 70.1 per cent, a significant increase from the reported provisional 56.6 per cent turnout in the 2023 presidential election. Observers from the Commonwealth found the election to be ‘largely transparent… and conducted in accordance with the established legislative framework of Gabon.’ The final phase of the transition will include the organization of legislative and local elections scheduled for 27 September and 11 October 2025. 

Sources: France24, Associated Press, TV5 Monde, The Commonwealth

Electoral participation significantly improved during Gabon’s first post-coup presidential election. In the official results certified by the Constitutional Court, turnout was registered at 70.1 per cent of the registered voters. This is a nearly 14-point increase from the 56.6 per cent turnout in the 2023 presidential election that immediately preceded the coup. The 2025 turnout is the highest reported level in Gabon in the last three decades. 

Sources: France24, Associated Press

Gabon passed a key milestone in its democratic transition on 16 November as voters approved a new constitution in a referendum, over a year after a coup d'état ended the 55-year rule of the Bongo family. According to the Constitutional Court, which validated the result on 29 November, the constitution was approved by 91.6 per cent of voters, with a turnout of 54.2 per cent. Among other changes, the new constitution abolishes the role of prime minister, prohibits dynastic succession and introduces a seven-year presidential term that may only be renewed once. The latter is one of several unamendable ‘eternity’ clauses. Such clauses also include an amnesty granted to those who took part in the 2023 coup and the definition of marriage, which is restricted to two people of the opposite sex. The constitution does not prevent Gabon’s military leader, Brice Oligui Nguema, from contesting the presidential election that is due to take place in August 2025.        

Sources: Gabon Constitution, Voice of America, Jeune Afrique, The Conversation

On 30 April, a national conference tasked with returning Gabon to constitutional order following the August 2023 coup delivered its recommendations on a new constitution. The Inclusive National Dialogue brought together over 600 participants from the military, civil society, religious organisations and political parties to debate the terms of the constitution. Many of the participants were selected by the transitional authorities. Among the recommendations put forward by the conference were: (1) that all political parties be suspended until the implementation of new rules governing their regulation, (2) that members of the former ruling party be barred from taking part in elections for three years (excluding them from the elections scheduled for August 2025), and (3) that a 12-month extension to the two-year transition promised by the junta be permitted in the event of an unforeseen crisis. The recommendations, which are not binding, are to be translated into a legal text and then submitted to a referendum later this year.     

Update: In a referendum held on 16 November 2024, voters approved a new constitution that omitted the three conference recommendations referenced above.  

Sources: Voice of America, Jeune Afrique, Dialogue National Inclusif, British Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters, Gabon Constitution   

The junta that deposed Ali Bongo Ondimba in August moved quickly to consolidate power after reopening the national borders in September. General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema was sworn in as ‘President of the Transition’ on 4 September. This investiture was enabled by a Transitional Charter that was published the same day. The Transitional Charter claims to supersede all other national laws and gives a great deal of power to the President. However, it also provides for transitional institutions including a National Assembly, a Senate, and a Constitutional Court, re-establishing institutions that had been declared to be dissolved by the coup. The Charter promises free and transparent elections but specifies no timeline for these to take place. Notably, the Transitional Charter forbids many officials in the transitional institutions from running for President in the elections to follow but does not prevent the President of the Transition from standing as a candidate. Also of note in September: former opposition presidential candidate (and former prime minister) Raymond Ndong Sima was appointed Prime Minister in the transitional government on 11 September.

Sources: Le Monde, Jeune Afrique, Radio France Internationale, AfricaNews, British Broadcasting Corporation, Africa Report