Gabon gvt submits vote plans
2009-07-03 09:19
Libreville - Gabon's government has submitted plans for a timetable ahead of presidential elections to the political parties in the country, officials said Thursday.
The interior ministry has drawn up a plan to revise the electoral roll in the equatorial African country between July 4 and 14, with a further period for corrections to be made before the lists are put to the national autonomous and permanent electoral commission (Cenap) on July 28, the officials said.
Interior Minister Jean-Fran'ois Ndongou met politicians on Wednesday to discuss this timetable with them.
Gabon is in official mourning for President Omar Bongo Ondimba, who was Africa's longest-serving head of state when he died last month, aged 73, after ruling the oil-rich nation for 41 years.
Prolonging the transition
A political transition began when Senate speaker Rose Francine Rogombe was sworn in as interim president on July 10, two days after Bongo's death in a Spanish private clinic was announced.
In principle, elections are due within 45 days of the swearing in of such an interim leader, but politicians across the board have agreed that this period is not long enough.
Decisions on prolonging the transition are in the hands of the constitutional court.
No date has yet been set - and during a visit to Senegal's capital Dakar on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he hoped the election would be delayed by no more than one month.
Close relations
"I hope it will not be more," he said. "France has no (preferred) candidate; France holds that the Gabonese must decide themselves between the parties in complete freedom. Finished is the time when France had its candidates."
France, the former colonial power, long had close relations with Bongo.
However, Rogombe on Thursday spoke of extending the transition period by 60 days in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) from Sirte in Libya, where she is attending an African Union summit.
Rogombe told RFI that she would show no preferences as presidential candidates came forward.
Keep the balance
"I consider that I am there to keep the balance," she said, stating that Bongo's Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) did "not have a natural candidate" and would try to avoid primary polls for one.
"The president (Bongo) passed on without leaving a name, without saying anything," Rogombe said.
Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong has recently indicated that he would be a candidate, while lawmaker and former government minister Daniel Ona Ondo has openly placed himself in the running.
Other likely candidates include the late Bongo's son Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba, who is minister of defence, and the former minister of mines, oil and hydrocarbons Casimir Oye Mba.