Initially scheduled for Friday, this consultation is now scheduled for Sunday, 03 September 2023. And on Saturday, on the side of Alternance 2023, we did not hide the concerns about the way the military settle in power in Libreville.
The leaders of the opposition platform joined by RFI remain on the same line, behind Albert Ondo Ossa: «We cannot pass by losses and profits the results of the electoral process, says one of them. There is a winner. There is no reason to create a legal vacuum.” In short: no need for a transition.
Even if they do not wish to speak at the microphone for the moment, these opponents are worried about how the military unfolds their agenda. “We acknowledge their role in preventing disorder, but we are not here to legitimize this coup. (…) We should not move from a civil dictatorship to a military dictatorship,” he continued.
Another manager of the Alternance 2023 platform adds: “We hear the promises, but it’s for the cameras, it’s just communication (…) If civil society wants to support a transition, it’s its choice, not ours.” These opposition leaders repeat: for them, it is necessary «thorough discussions between the junta and the platform», at least an appointment with Albert Ondo Ossa. «And that, says one of them, doesn’t happen in front of the cameras».
For Raymond Ndong Sima, a new election is needed
If Albert Ondo Ossa multiplies the declarations to demand a new counting of the votes because he is convinced to be the winner of the vote, a dissenting voice is heard within the Alternation. For the former Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, member of this platform, we must forget the last election and organize another election on new bases, he explains to the microphone of our correspondent, Yves-Laurent Goma.
“It is essential that we resume the entire election after correcting the texts that govern these elections, so that we have a separate presidential election, separate legislative elections and separate local elections.
Why am I against the vote count? Because the CGE [Gabonese Centre for Elections, editor’s note] had in its hands all the electoral material, that is to say all the ballot boxes, that it conveyed them to the places where the elections took place, to the centres where the compilation was made. And therefore, no one can guarantee that during that period, the three days that passed, they did not comply with the results they give and the ballots that are in the ballot box, because you can well imagine that expecting a dispute before the Constitutional Court, they were able to make this maneuver. So that’s a risk I refuse to take.
No, my friends will understand that they are in their dreams, because if you have someone who cheats, he does not cheat halfway.”
