Gabon Ruling Party Wins First Round Of Parliamentary Vote

Gabon's ruling party won just over half of the parliamentary seats in the first round of legislative elections last week, in a vote marred by low turnout, the elections committee has said.

Libreville, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2018 ) :Gabon's ruling party won just over half of the parliamentary seats in the first round of legislative elections last week, in a vote marred by low turnout, the elections committee has said.

Headed by President Ali Bongo, the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) won 74 of the 143 seats in long-delayed parliamentary elections, it said in a statement late Friday.

The figures were slightly lower than an initial estimate by Bongo's spokesman last week, in which he said the party had won 80 seats, describing it as "a landslide" victory.

Turnout was "relatively low," a presidential spokesman said, without giving figures.

Campaigning for the second round began on Saturday with the vote to be held in 61 Constituencies on October 27.

The October 6 vote, which also included municipal polls, was the first election since a presidential race two years ago which was marred by deadly violence and fraud allegations.

Gabon has been ruled by the same political dynasty for nearly half a century.

By contrast, last week's elections went off peacefully, although a local town hall was set alight several hours after the voting.

African Union observers described the running of the election as "satisfactory" and without irregularities, but several civil society organisations complained that there had been attempts to buy votes.