MADRID 20 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the African Union Commission, Musa Faki Mahamat, congratulated Gabon on Tuesday for holding the constitutional referendum that reinforces the presidential system, the first vote in the country since the coup d’état in August 2023, ensuring that ” It is an important step towards the reestablishment of the democratic constitutional order” in the African country.
Mahamat has encouraged the transitional government of Gabon, “as well as all political and social actors, to continue rigorously implementing the political transition plan aimed at organizing democratic elections in 2025.” Thus, he reaffirmed the AU’s “full” support for the transition and the Gabonese people “with a view to establishing inclusive, democratic and peaceful governance in the country.”
Likewise, he recalled that the regional organization deployed a technical mission to supervise the referendum under the auspices of the African Fund to Support Inclusive Transitions, a joint initiative of the AU Commission and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). .
The Gabonese authorities reported on Sunday that the plebiscite had been adopted with 91.80 percent of the votes. The main element of the text is the shift from a parliamentary system to a presidential system, as well as the introduction of a limit of two consecutive seven-year terms in the position of head of state and the exclusion of descendants of a president.
In addition, the proposal eliminates the position of prime minister and allows the coup leader himself, Brice Oligui Nguema, to run in the elections, something that has been criticized by the opposition, which remembers that the military man promised a transition to a civilian authority.
The text also contemplates the creation of the position of vice president and that only people who have at least one Gabonese parent can be candidates for the Presidency. In addition, it maintains French as the official language, prohibits homosexual marriages and makes military service mandatory.