Gabonese People Vote for a New President

Posted by Staff Writer on Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 1:28pm.

The Gabonese people went to the polls today to vote for a new President following the death of the world’s longest serving President- Omar Bongo.  In the pool of 23 candidates, is the son of the former President - Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba who is favored to win.

Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba, is a 50 year old former Defense Minister whose well financed campaign has the support of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party(PDG) and the current security apparatus which analysts say should help Bongo secure the election.

In addition to being Africa’s 5th largest oil producer, Gabon is reportedly also the world’s fourth-biggest producer of manganese, which is used to strengthen steel.  It also produces timber for European markets.

Gabon is a central African nation with a population of about 1.5 million people, The country’s more than 813,000 registered voters began to cast their ballots at 7.30 a.m. Voting is scheduled to continue until 6 p.m and results are expected by Sept. 2.

Gabon has a GDP of over $14,000 which is four times that of most sub-Saharan African countries.  Oil accounted for about 50% of that production, but there is evidence that production is dropping and unless they find more oil, will need to diversify their outputs.

The United States is Gabon’s biggest customer, buying over US$ 1.9 billion in crude oil in 1996. It is the country’s second biggest supplier (after France), with almost 10 percent of the market - mostly selling heavy equipment for the oil services industry, to forestry and mining concerns, and for public works. Japan is in third place, supplying mainly four-wheel-drive vehicles and electronic equipment. The European Union (taken together as the eleven previous core countries minus France) chalks up about 28 percent of the market.

The French also have a major stake in this election and have gone out of their way to declare their neutrality.  Gabon still hosts a major French military base, 120 French firms including the oil giant Total and a 10,000-strong French community.

Gabon’s infrastructure is fairly sophisticated when compared to that of its neighbors, but does not extend far outside of Libreville, the capital city. The roads outside the capital are poorly developed and inadequately maintained. Telecommunications, air and rail transport, and oil refining are managed by inefficient parastatals targeted for privatization.

Telecommunications is widely seen as an area with potential investment opportunities