Gabon Government and Politics
At the November presidential election, Bongo was re-elected with 79.18% of the vote – well ahead of his opponents. According to AllCityCodes.com, the 69-year-old Bongo first took up the post of head of state in 1967 and is thus the African head of state that has been the longest in the post. His main counterpart Pierre Mamboundou got 13.61% of the vote and former prime minister Zacharie Myboto got 6.58%. Both characterized the election as “characterized by scams”.
In January 2006, the country’s new prime minister, Jean Eyeghé Ndong, released its ministerial list of 49 ministers – 12 of them women. Also see AbbreviationFinder for abbreviation of GA and its meanings of Gabon.
Reference: Gabon Flag Meaning
In February 2006, the governments of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea agreed to begin negotiations on a number of small islands in the Gulf of Guinea, which may have oil in the underground.
The high oil price and a significant increase in oil extraction resulted in increased oil revenues and in July 2007 the government decided to repay its foreign debt of DKK 2.3 billion. US $ with the Paris Club. Gabon now has the highest human development index (HDI) in sub-Saharan Africa.
In October, the government decided to abolish the death penalty, which had not been applied for 10 years.
Omar Bongo died in June 2009. The ruling party PDG then elected Bongo’s son, Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba as its candidate for the subsequent presidential election. However, several media pointed out that a power struggle was taking place within the party over the post of the deceased president’s successor. Prime Minister Jean Eyeghé Ndong had hoped to be nominated by the PDG, and the election of his son led him to resign from the Prime Minister’s post in July. He was followed by Paul Biyoghé Mba.
The August presidential election was won by Bongo with 42% of the vote. The opposition’s allegation of electoral fraud led to the electoral commission counting the votes, which did not change the outcome. Bongo took office as president in October and decided to retain Mba on the prime minister’s post. However, the government was reduced from 44 to 30 members in line with the presidential election promise to cut government spending.
An additional election in 2010 gave 3 seats to PDG and 2 to the newly formed opposition UN (Union Nationale), which consisted predominantly of defectors from PDG.
On January 25, 2011, opposition leader André Mba Obame claimed the presidential post, declaring that the country should be led by a people trust. At the same time, he appointed 19 “ministers” and, along with a few hundred supporters, spent the night at the UN headquarters in Libreville. The day after the government dissolved Mba Obama’s party. African Union (AU) President Jean Ping stated that Mba Obama’s actions had “compromised the integrity of the legitimate institutions and jeopardized the peace, security and stability of Gabon”.
In August 2012, there was a clash between protesters and police in the capital Libreville. The demonstration was in support of Andre Mba Obame, who protesters claimed won the presidential election in 2009. They threw stones and bottles at police, who again responded with tear gas. 10 were injured. These were the most serious clashes since 2009.
In January 2014, Daniel Ona Ondo assumed the post of Prime Minister after Ndong Sima.
The Bay of Gabon, in the colony of the same name, owes its name to its configuration: it is a deformation of the Portuguese word gabão (“gull”). The bay penetrates up to 80 km. in the interior of the continent and its maximum width is 15 km; the entrance is partly blocked by sand banks; some shallows prevent the great vapors from anchoring less than a mile from Libreville, but further east, at Punta having, the depths of 10 m. they are very close to the shore; between Punta Ovendo and Pongara there is a vast bay, one of the best on the west coast of Africa. The two banks of Gabon are indented by a large number of narrow and elongated inlets that penetrate considerably inland. The Como (230 km.), The Bokoué and the Ramboué (150 km.) Flow into the bay; the Como is navigable for 50 km .; the Bokoué and the Ramboué have a course full of meanders and marshy banks covered with paletuvieri.
Libreville, hidden among mangoes and palm trees, is built on the north shore of the bay, where the oldest cocoa plantation in the colony was created in 1892 on the Isle of Perroquets.
