Gabon junta eyes two-year transition period before holding elections
Gabon’s military government has promised to hold free elections in two years’ time, newly appointed Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima said.
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Speaking to the French press agency AFP on Sunday, Sima described the transition period of 24 months as “a reasonable objective”.
That period could end up being slightly longer or shorter, he added.
Ndong Sima was appointed last week as head of the transitional government by the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, who seized power in a coup on 30 August.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba was toppled just moments after being declared the winner of a presidential elections, which both the army and the opposition denounced as fraudulent.
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New electoral code
The junta has pledged to put a proposed new constitution to a referendum, and introduce a new electoral code.
Under the transitional charter, no member of this temporary government will be able to stand in the next presidential election.
Ndong Sima, 68, is a Paris-educated economist who served as prime minister under Bongo from 2012 to 2014 before becoming a critic and competing against him in the 2016 and 2023 presidential campaigns.
His appointment, announced on state TV, was made in a decree on Thursday by Oligui.
The military authority later appointed a new cabinet, including Mays Mouissi as the country’s economy minister.
(with wires)
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