In Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba badly embarked

In Gabon, at the end of Saturday's poll, Ali Bongo seems to be behind his opponent Albert Ondo Ossa. But the Gabonese president will find it difficult to recognize a possible defeat.

The Gabonese opposition seems to have learned the lessons of the 2016 presidential election. the Gabonese were, on Saturday, invited to go to the polls, the power in place takes a long time to count the results. Or rather to try to find how to declare Ali Bongo Ondimba winner without it appearing as a massive fraud. Because with 800 ballots, at most, to compile, the counting should already have been completed on Sunday evening.

Bongo has still not found the least stupid formula to justify his institutional coup. It will soon be 72 hours to count less than 800 votes.

There are 1220 Senegalese who have nothing to do with their days and who could help the… pic.twitter.com/5vfdZ0mMmz

— Ayoba FAYE (@autrecommoi) August 28

But the Gabonese Election Center (CGE) takes a lot of time. Too much time. And, already, several opposition observers are denouncing astonishing movements, as in Haut-Ogooué, which swung the election in 2016 – at the time, the announced participation rate was close to 100% and Ali Bongo had officially obtained 95% of the votes - where the work of centralizing the results was stopped and the minutes sent by plane directly to Libreville.

These movements, which suggest a new massive fraud, are taking place in the most total blackout : since Saturday, the internet connection has been cut in the country, difficult communications and foreign journalists were unable to observe the voting process.

For its part, the opposition has set up its own results compilation system. Gradually, the minutes are sent to the headquarters of Alternance 2023, the main opposition platform, which has appointed a "consensus candidate", Albert Ondo Ossa. And the first trends are quite clear, so much so that Albert Ondo Ossa has already announced his victory in half-words and asked Ali Bongo to cede power to him in a "peaceful" way.

Still, it is the CGE that could ignite the powder. The Gabonese Election Center is expected to declare the incumbent president the winner. And attack the opponents, since he has already announced that "members of a gang whose objective is to sow chaos as soon as the results are announced" had been arrested.