As presidential campaigns begin in Gabon, 18 opposition candidates are in the race to unseat incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba

19 candidates in the presidential elections in Gabon have launched their campaigns today, August 11, 2023.

For this one-round election, the candidates are anticipated to travel throughout the country’s nine provinces and among the diaspora to canvass for votes.

The Gabon presidential election will take place on August 26.

With barely two weeks to go for the candidates to cajole voters – there have been a lot of talks about the Incumbent’s ability to rule.

In 2009, 64-year-old Ali Bongo Ondimba succeeded his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled the nation for 41 years.

Ali Bongo is running for his third term in government, and Gabonese citizens who have been pushing for change claim he is unqualified to lead the nation.

Questions around his ability to rule heightened when President Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 – and spent months on the sidelines recovering.

Also, the Bongo family has ruled the country for 55 years already and is branded a “dynastic power” by the opposition.

But they have failed to agree on a single candidate for the presidential election. In this year’s election, 18 opposition leaders would be fighting to unseat Ali Bongo which analysts describe as “impossible with the divided opposition.”

The president was narrowly re-elected in 2016, with just 5,500 more votes than rival Jean Ping, who claimed the election was rigged.

The parliament of Gabon altered the constitution in April, reducing the president’s seven-year term to five.

According to the Gabonese Elections Centre’s electoral calendar, elections for the president, lawmakers, and local councils will all take place on the same day.

Amina Hilda Contributed to this article